AND RAISE THY BANNER

to William Shakespeare and all the others..., to Poetry itself in all its finest hours

keep watch on the waters under the bridge

lest floodtide reach again that  ridge

lest floodtide breach what cant be mended

and the world be resuspended

losing human speech, nobility impeached,

human speech and poetry Grand

I'll never never understand

why men have bartered gold for rot

and pearls of beauty long forgot and exiled.

forgot and smashed them, the sublime

into the former realms of time

and locked them in.

bewildered now we stand and see

backwaters of a robbery

that world has fallen, all the just

their musical phrases meager crusts

that should have been immune to rust

when sounded by the merciful

immune and radiant more and more

nor cast upon the bleakest shore

because they would not serve utility.

restore restore the angels cry

the hymn to singing

what cannot die

and beauteous phases of the moon

in every language now resume

that soul may sing

and joy clap hands

above the weeping- sorrowlands.

and poetry renewed may be

in every greening long lost tree

then from a golden Strand renew

our banished dreams and in revue

all lost kingdoms of the heart

blaze forth and shine out

rescued Art

lost purity return to us

and raise thy banner from the dust.

mary angela douglas 13 june 2023