Such Are The Benedictions Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

such are the benedictions of the bright and broken shore
when you are leaving
that if you stopped the music

to implore, oh, should I stay?
there'd be no answer.
they turned to the wall that day

not to face you. the green walls.
the curtains drawn: wine roses on cream.
you want to step back in time as if in dreams.

this is possible in daylight. is this possible?
for just that moment but it slips away
the piers vanish. the small dog in the yard.

where in the mists can I find them
you'll wonder like everyone human before you

then you learn to say: until their alphabets fade.
and you earn the silence you've been given;
dropping the keys on the ocean floor,

the letters started and the half-life of the stars.
sorting the grains of truth from the pottage of lies and
noting the fleur dis lis flowers shade the lamps

blossom by blossom in the same hours,
these trembling skies.

mary angela douglas 5 august 2015; 9 march 2016