Do We Live Useful Lives Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

do we live useful lives

to say the beautiful things

to work at that like an enterprise

not to get paid for it

not to manipulate or cajole

but only to put back the shiny things

when they fall off the edge and break

that is the meaning that I take

from all the books I ever read

from all the things they ever said

and really meant

as if they were heaven sent

and I know they were

on a day I was falling off of the world myself

I turned a page

and the midnight sun returned.

mary angela douglas 28 february 2023