Manuscripts Don't Burn* Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

the poems of the stars are
gone, and fire-spared

never endings-

lost as the silent reaches

their language was intended
for:

and overreaching love

in its Icarian phase.

but I am sinking, snow-deep,
in sound, but I am on

the first page, again

of skies no power can consume-
regaining your syllable after

syllable-

mary angela douglas 22 february 2001/28 august 2005

*reference is to the line in Mikhail Bulgakov's novel, The Master and Margarita:

'Didn't you know that manuscripts don't burn? '