Play Something On The Violin For Rilke (Final Version) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

Rilkean birds flew out of my heart
startled by the nearness of the skies.
cloud music I have loved you
with an unseen love
imagining the winds at Duino

and the first gold fissures of
angels floating nigh
the pale green parapets in
dangerous weather, the
Poet almost blown overboard;

who can forget to love
the poet born
to be wounded by roses,
business letters and the unrecorded
covert sniping glances;
the pathos of evening pavements worn
through by starlight

and where you walked-

the leaves whirl up as high as the sunset
bouquets tendered to you by God
though you're no longer here to gather them.
or ever at home on earth...

children gazing from sidereal castles
unused to the battlements of High Song-
suddenly-began to dream…

began on their own
to notice the teacups rattling;
on their own-the jeweled and beaded strands
of light
and the far distances…
that used to be your own

as though they were meant to be
strange neighbors
in the same music,

Shining-

mary angela douglas 27-28 february 2012;
16 july 2018; 10 june 2019; 3 may 2023