Escorial (Final Version) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

(for Professor Anthony J. Cervone and for Dr. John Gaither; for Sister Mary Janet Konkler rsm)

last night I dreamed of the Escorial
of the paintings of saints with angular faces
Toledo in grey and the storms gathering
la vida es sueño or it may have been and the siglo de oro
the siglo de oro, the infanta with roses in a square of light that indicts the Civil Guards
and skies glisten dark plum overnight
and I am singing a vagrant's tune
Garcia Lorca, kaleidoscope moon
moon of the verdant green
moon of the everlastingly verdant green
over the sobbing of balconies
has become the branch of black cherries.
I'm in the book of the small blue flowers;
how shall I play my pavane for you for the hour is late.the inquisitional hour
the pavane for you and the piano locked.
the bell tower weathering of storms grows pale
too hard to believe. or to contemplate
a children's lullaby etched in silver.
a paper bird before the war.
a paper bird singing with brilliant plumage
a bird that cannot sing anymore.
the stage sets adored in miniature thrashed.
the sky as pink as the Alhambra at last
and all of my soul has turned to glass
all of Andalusia gleams the rust

and decay of autumn
and life as a dream of a dream in a dream is past: my Calderon.
tiene que ser de esta moda
a caged music flying into the gold
into the gold of the siglo de oro
Cervantes furtive at the windowpane
ironical at the thought of fame.

Quixote charges on

flamenco barters by the hour.
while I am in a high high tower
with clouds and angels beckoning.
I want to go back to the Escorial.
to the way that I felt then from only the pictures in books.Iberia, to
the oranges composed in a bowl of blue
and that was the whole summer I learned Spanish
the way that I wanted to.
the pear bright core of it the subtle shadings.
as if the kings were looking for you.
all the hidden Magi, for legendary Spain...

were looking for you for costly,
for lost lost time..
in the preterit of dreams.

mary angela douglas 18 july 2020; 24 june 2022; 15 march 2023

-