UNLESS THEY HAVE FORGOTTEN EVERYTHING

 

UNLESS THEY HAVE FORGOTTEN EVERYTHING

I write of gilded skies, the easter lily hymns

Shakespeare wrote not of the gilded monuments

But of enduring love

Some accounts say he did not expect his poems to live

Except the ones written for enduring love

Because that is precisely what he says in his sonnets

And not only once or twice

I think it is reasonable to say

All his work endured.

Perhaps all his work was written that way

With enduring love

Which in the end

Is more important than poetry

Or theatre

And yet poetry is valuable

whenever it preserves such love.

In the end the theme of all poets

Unless they have forgotten everything

In terms of scale.

mary angela douglas 14 april 2024