It Is Vital To Know The Names Of The Mountains Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

it's vital to know the names of the mountains
on the maps that never existed
until someone with an enraptured imagination made up
the ancient story in their head
with dragons and princesses
to whom they were fed
and told it to others
in illuminating ink
with angels facing forwards and
backwards to bookend with triumphs
with terrible defeats
the battles that never existed
but were approximated
to know they danced
at right angles to the Lord
with silent tambourines and
flown nightingales
and were perpendicular
to the signs and sages
weaving tamarinds and pomegranates
I do not know if we will be tested on this
material in Heaven
I know that in the four chambers of my heart
there is the Holy Spirit
still, the chiming of bells
as heard at Christmas
the baby in the manger
who grew up to save my life
by forfeiting His Own
I do not care about the tar pits
or what the amber revealed
but the Word on my tongue
is in several shades of green
please God, may it not fade.
because though not worked in metal
but in mist in gladness and in distress
though it never settled near the riverbanks
to become, much later, a civilization
praised by critics
you recognized it Yourself
in unarticulated sobbing or in the falling of rains
from my sore eyes
it whispered Your beautiful Names.
mary angela douglas 13 september 2023