Thinking It Light Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

they said that you had fallen away

no longer interested in the Beautiful

from the ancient texts,

taking nothing visionary

ever anymore

I wept in corners

finding no other place to grieve.

slowly the shadows turned garnet

and I stopped.

how can I come to an understanding

that you would depart after long days

the golden apples within your grasp

the Phoenix feather, the maytime weather

and all the storied past and turn away

to favor lean times

like Nebechadnezzar,

eating the grass or content merely

to pluck ghost apples or just let them tumble

from the withered trees.

no longer the squire.

the aspirant knight

living in darkness

and thinking it light.

mary angela douglas 5 february 2023