for Vladimir Bukovsky who, among other notable things, built a castle and tended his rose trees...
I planted a rose garden in my head
and labyrinthine scented too and hedge on hedge
so when trouble came
roses were my only view and quaint
against a silk screened sky I wandered there without reply
away from cares and far far from the needling; needless sighs
and plucked them where they grew;
then more profuse my roses blew
nor torn in the erratic winds
and I could all belief suspend except
for that haven and the fountains pluming near
the orangeries...
and all that blended there to please, to make of solace
a flowery stair and no more ambuscados of words
or pernicious stares or the blank sum glaring everywhere
the workplace blaring the tedious forms the roaring
inspections
and the reprimands for I had roses near at hand
and hedge on hedge since I was born o the rose trees;
a bench of pearl to sit and dream
to make of roses a faerie screen
to forget a thousand thousand stings and all the world's
scalding: the ratlike gnawing codes to oblivion assigned
where the pale and the emerald waters flowed.
mary angela douglas 11 july 2020
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem