Vanishing Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

For George Balanchine on the notion of his that with his death, all his ballets should completely
Vanish (as reported by Clive Barnes in the documentary BALANCHINE LIVES)

With death's stroke how could his kingdom vanish
I tried to feel along the countries. contours of the inexplicable
Like some blind snow angel wondering
How fold one valentine into another in what descending order
Reprieve no more the gestures frail as snow dissolving into the air
As though the ballets had never been
So emerald, so diamond so full of rubies
Of the forgotten gestures of swans In this particular moment
Apollonian, or Mozart filled rising to the occasion of Heaven
Wings borrowed from another time; Stravinsky's elan
Firebird blazing no more, these escapades
Upon the living stage
Quixote's lamentations, Titania's retinue
Where vanished, where the jazzy splash
Accorded its due the tightrope crossing
Balanced with the serenade triumphant
Falling from the bridge of air again of music
Where, the beloved faces his dilemma
With a secret smile that shimmers and is gone
Softly as into dream sand choreographies sifted
Sink like a kind of Atlantis of the dance
From which he will not return.
mary angela douglas 12 may 2024