Going North (Slight Revision, Final Version, Reformatted Stanzas) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

[to George McDonald-
and to my mother, at the back of the North Wind-]
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dreaming lines from Your book of pearl
we carried the snow in our small hands
from the white-worked embroideries on the lawn.

you only feel the cold at first;
then you don't.
a dish of frozen cherries for the King: scooped out-
a Queen looks out her diamond windowpane
and sighs,
"will these ships sail? "

cover my words in the green shade of your hands.
the sun can blister what should be said.
and you may find the back-hand of the wind
and every lost subaltern telling you what to do
with your fine soul

though filmy valentines from God Himself
will shadow you…

and may I scoop from the frozen honey
of your tears, white velvet on my slightest wings,
bright words to remain on earth with
after you've disappeared-

she cried.
while children standing on orange crates
declaimed it's best to be
eating oranges at Christmas-tide
and peppermint ice-cream.

the Queen smiled out
rich stenciled window-panes
where they finger-wrote in frost
their last goodbyes.

carry fond words into the eternities,
she wrote them back -
carry blizzards on your back
for the sake of the truth
we saved from melting...

mary angela douglas 21 january 2012; 9 october 2023