The Interim Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

somewhere there is a golden tree

that silver birds anoint with song

a mist that opens on a stage

an infinite gilding of the day

and starbright children still at play

and I want to go there

winged with all wishes and I want to know

there that God meant time for happiness

and nothing else

and then I will read all the books on the shelf

so that all colours rise from the pages mingled

the sounds of flutes and trumpets, acutely bright

the sound of the piano in its autumn sonatas conveyed

while the morning glories on the fence are trumpeting too

the glory glories and we inherit all the stories

where wrongs are righted where love is plighted

and lives on

where nothing and no one is missing from the feast

and then we'll know the soul's release.

as we know only now the tinsel in dreams

partly in the shade part light our names turned inward, questioning,

preparing for flight.

mary angela douglas 25 february 2020