FUGITIVE MUSIC, PALE GREEN AND FLED

(for Gerard Manley Hopkins)

please let them save whatever is burning

whatever, whomever is lens focused shedding

icarian wings or Springs headed northward

and then, diverted

whatever we have left unsaid

whatever flashes gold through tree limbs or scarlet,

barely budding in the april winds

in my dreams it never turns to ash

in my dreams it never turns to ash

but is quelled by snows that last

longer than life

outlasting everything

shining and shining

and laced with small bells

in the afternoons.

mary angela douglas 18 may 2023