The Vanishing Of Notebooks (Final Version) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

[to Osip and Nadezhda Mandelstam]

the vanishing of notebooks did he muse
upon the Muse; the muse is banished she
sang, dark cherry tinged songs, Nadezhda, let us write our names on

snow perhaps he whispered
whispered then he was gone.
as the crow flies say all the proverbs

so the saints die he said or the poets
so near the Hagia Sophia
and the crows reign sadly
but we, did we write our names on snow

I carried you she cried how could they really
quench the lamp we could not see
was burning down and

I awoke from dreams of even more trouble
and to
the vanishing of notebooks

but Time could not eat your face in my dreams where

it was May
it was beautiful May
all the trees were snowing our names

mary angela douglas 15 february 2015