English Literature Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

this vast extravagance of words
should we then shelve, discard or
bar from view

of little children coming on the scene
some centuries late
who must be taught

all words are equal maybe,
only words that are socially useful
equal to the cause of being, almost, human

that is, imagination scorned and shorn
of beauty, used to advertise
a world grown wise but fool enough

to lose jeweled language
by design
abjuring the time the poets

spent in anguish to deliver one word:
that bird has flown

and relevance is god
relevant to who, to whom
do these distinctions matter

when they have scattered
the ashes of what cannot burn
except brightly

except, forever.

mary angela douglas 6 february 2017