In Winter Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

(for Gustav Holst)
earth are you haunted with the ghosts of leaves
the oblivion of deep snows
the crumbling of crimson and of gold
and do you mourn them yet, repeatedly,
for centuries after
how long is your widowhood tuned
so far from Junes to the tuning forks of trees
shorn of it all.
yet birdsong remains the same
or seems to or do migrational anomalies
indicate otherwise when silent and of one accord
the birds in flocks arise to no sure enterprise
and icing begins on the ponds and various scenery.
how beauty flies so many have testified
surely the children of men
have company in their laments
long after Time is spent
the company of the wild things who cannot flee
the plants, withering where they are.
the Northern sta; .the taciturn, other planets.
mary angela douglas 13 december 2021