O Rose Encrypted; The Battalions Of Light Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

o rose encrypted; the battalions of light
the child forgetting the way to the Castle
and the violet skies
o rose on my left hand
and on my right
what is this seeming
metamorphosis and flight
of the heart not remembered here.
I remember the early light of summers
the fragrance on a thousand breezes
and infinite mercy
while we were at play
the children encamped
beneath the brittle stars

o rose encrypted
o rose of the summer nights
together with the gardenias
the lilacs
what has passed has passed
insists the evening news
but they have all forgotten
immortality blooms
and blooms and blooms.
politics cannot own it.
and who can be disowned
when dreaming under the fragrant spell of God
beauty forever enumerated
the battalions of light
the banishing banishing
of the cryptic aside.
and the cruel.

mary angela douglss 1 may 2023