The High Things Of The Heart Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

the high things of the heart
and those who believed in them
these things I found

in the old books not on display
and I know that what I read there
was no lie

that these things lived
though not before my eyes
when scanning the landscape

it seemed to me in vain for present evidence.
the books piled high as the poet said
fantastic with heraldry and dreams,

nobility, life lived for some grand thing
and self renounced
and in my mind I saw

as when a chlld

the light of Heaven bend kindly
refracted through the stained glass
the Chistmas angels in the clouds

the powerful star.
and in between God's face and ours
so little remained

so little
to keep us apart.

mary angela douglas 10 august 2017