The Lilacs In The Evening Of My Poem (Final Draft) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

let the moon be bright and clear in my poem about the lilacs
though I know so many have written, have sung about them before

still they have not written my lilacs into their poems
how could they
so I feel justified in making this small garden shine

and letting it be evening in the poem and it has rained
and of course the perfume of the lilacs is stronger now
and the wind knows it and the wind comes through my

poem's screen door and laughs and scatters all the papers on the floor
and opens all the books to the former poems about lilacs

written across the ages
and we are like, that suddenly
a shop with jeweled clocks and timepieces

all set to the same hour
the self same loveliness ticking away and suddenly hushed
no longer young or old

just caught out in a lilac moment

and this poem I present to you
is a bouquet of them, at evening tied with ribbons of silver
in the aforementioned moonlight

and the purple clouds of the scent of the flowers
has made you happy
thinking about this:

in heaven the lilacs are infinite'
we will be too

mary angela douglas 16 june 2021