The Sunset Of Words Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

from the sunrise of words they have stolen a little light
here and there so that words have taken flight,
the gleaming words

the ones you cherished in a lullaby sleep
ah they have stolen and coin by coin
my treasure! jeweled language

and was there none to cry out
no one to hear
no one to stand in guard

of all the angels o
they have stolen the lily and the myrtle
from out of the verse

of the past
the moon's reflection on the waters
the child's in a looking glass

the sighs of the least and last
and I am held in the tower
cried the Muse

the Muse of our lost hours
is there none to save?
men rave without speaking

day by day and close
the book and say
we have made the sunset of words

all by ourselves
and oh, we are proud
and will it out loud to be this way

that Beauty in tatters should go about the woods
senseless and dumb
in the mermaid hour

when the dagger must be flung out far
from her
and ah! beyond reach

flung far
that Love should rule in the End
even without speech.

mary angela douglas 2 september 2017