Armorial Devices (For My Father, Robert Roy Douglas, In Memorium, D. April 7,2002) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

Armorial devices
Under pale moonlight
Shone through the windows of a dream
Stained glass, come to pass
Oh who has pulled the sword from the stone
Christ, of the miseries, of the cordial of the broken heart
Why do we fight so far apart
Ranged on a field under pale moonlight
Never coming it seems it seems
To any decisive victory
Still the heavenly host wage on
You with your quill, and I with my song
And the clouds under pale moonlight roil
Battles only invisibly won
Phantom angelic,
Blindly we see
It must be the Saviour
Who else could it be
Leaving us
So less alone.
Pulling again
The sword from the stone.
mary angela douglas 7 april 2024