That Angel Knowledge Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

that angel knowledge Shakespeare said

knowledge angelical Aquinas bled

on the frost of his reason

still, in a brighter season I believe

what are angels but the green of trees and their breezes

as we knew them then

and cloudlike dancing in the summer blue

and all that I had dreamed of You

in the first toy alphabet of time

loving rime, the clime of it still; its inducements

purpureal and splendid

what are angels but the breath of storms

calmed as our fears through years and years

and the roseate taken to its end

and found again, the jack=in-the-box surprise of it

we are children splashing in the fountains

of rain in the yard, silverly laughing, drenched in stars

as we were at home and not at Christmas only.

and wed to words in the story book sighing of the clock

by which we read, and were read to.


mary angela douglas 24 april 2020