Reliable Witness Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

Im going through too much upset now

to be a reliable witness

I think I say I said or would


in my courtroom imagination

watching too much Perry Mason.

I'll get by and so will you


inventing laws that dont offend the skies

so that it rains and then it floods

and then whatever you think it was


it doesnt seem it will ever be again.

how many lives do you live till the Kingdom comes


not even saints can count that far.

what kind of math is this they teach us then

leaving too many scars


so fastidiously some could reach the stars with it


but it still doesnt answer the question how

or why we linger on earth

when we feel that we could die too easily


from monstrous lies


and if someone let the light out of the Sun

and it's all drained out.

and we are residual light


losing its right to immigrate here.

what CAN we know but God.

here where tears are canyons.


and relief from them is being dialed back


by unexpectedly and unasked for

masked and now unmasked

cruel leaders


Lead us not into cruelty

well let's depart

and find another well made Ark


built to God's specifications


it isnt our country anymore

where monsters know the score

and we're left in the waiting room too long.


I dont know how to write this song

much less sing it.


But I know God made the earth.

whoever thinks he owns it

is a fool


that we will find it easier to leave

than anything we have left before

God is real.


and more always more

than loving.

and we, his doves


will fly to him

in any storm.


they can dredge up.


mary angela douglas 12 august 2019