O ROSE ENCRYPTED;THE BATTALIONS OF LIGHT

o rose encrypted;the battalions of light

the child forgetting the way to the Castle

and the violet skies

o rose on my left hand

and on my right

what is this seeming

metamorphosis and flight

of the heart not remembered here.

I remember the early light of summers

the fragrance on a thousand breezes

and infinite mercy

while we were at play

the children encamped

beneath the brittle stars

o rose encrypted

o rose of the summer nights

together with the gardenias

the lilacs

what has passed has passed

insists the evening news

but they have all forgotten

immortality blooms

and blooms and blooms.

politics cannot own it.

and who can be disowned

when dreaming under the fragrant spell of God

beauty forever enumerated

the battalions of light

the banishing banishing

of the cryptic aside.

and the cruel.

mary angela douglss 1 may 2023