Wednesday, April 19, 2023

FOR EMILY BRONTE

 

what mistral on a starless night

could conjure up the soul of you

or featured another fortune where

you and your sisters, your brother too

did not live in that tubercular house

that for certain was cold all through the Spring

as winter, wintry looks in bookish books

or your face pressed against the window

as if in a tempest, waiting to be let in again

we can imagine

or where the moors were as they were

conjuring the ghosts you were

despite all the tourists, you may linger

for those who go to Haworth as if

on pilgrammage.

should we bring mock orange blossoms

to the tomb of one so certain beyond all glooms

and alarms that God alone knows where you are

and who

we only know that you knew

forgetting all the facts that can be assembled

to explain not at all

your mystery of being in the world

and not of it, at all

remains unanswered though we call and call after you.

mary angela douglas 19 april 2023

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