Advancing To The Finals Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

we'd all like to make some progress in life
or so we are told
though it's not in the Bible exactly
the thing about progression
to be in it to win it except for the Soul
or at least to buy enough lotto tickets
to show we made some effort
to remove ourselves from the lesser parts of town
town and gown
before the nuova slum clearances kick into high gear
or who cares anyway the Year is still God's
let us be glad for it but
what does it say about human systems
and the subterranean gargoyles
that we must be conditioned this way
to have eyes on the prize
far better to have our eyes on God
who loves us with or without game pieces and the rodeos
who has already given us the moon the sun and the stars
His own son into the bargain
You don't have to read Dante to know this
or Acquinas although I admit I love them too
Oh heart my labouring heart I cried
set out into the wilderness with angels by my side
in need of a Blakean illumination
adrift in a nation of contested contests.
and the beautiful brokenhearted, who die
clutching the wrong, the unavailing grail.
mary angela douglas 19 september 2023