Saints Of Words Were These Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

SAINTS OF WORDS WERE THESE

to the Immortal Poets

they had taken up the cause of beauty
and for them God had in reserve
whole wildernesses

timed to bloom in one compacted hour
and as though we had wept flowers
those hours descended their ghosts sang

their words jeweled in a driving rain
and flame upon flame of the Word
driven inward

having no other home.
saints of words were these
last poets, lost though they seemed

their own illuminated manuscripts
torn, and destitute of little repute sometimes
in the heedless world

what is poetry they ask in the magazines
and I cannot say but how can it be
they do not know

when such as these were on the earth
and vanished slowly
giving birth

in every language possible
that beauty vanishing with them
should return

to us, the uncomprehending.

mary angela douglas 26 april 2017