Song To Peripheral Saints Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

no one missed you there

though you left such a vivid thumbprint on the doorposts

so that angels passed over

and turned your mind inside out

emptying out all starlight in the wounding conversations

that followed. your shadows in cerise.

no one missed you. the Party went on

in silly hats and streamers on the lawn

Polichinelle, on the piano.

and the rose dawn starting up

you drift away like clouds parting from clouds

a ghost at the apex of your earthly day

and murmur goldenly to God

and carry on.

since life has come to be this way.

you are not wrong though a thousand talkers talking through

the leaves of all the ancient trees as Frost once noted on the

breeze are not enough

will never be enough

to cancel out from divine memory

the way you have come. wing tipped flame to flame

or remove you from His Name.

mary angela douglas 20 march 2020