Thoor Ballylee Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

walking there I would be
if it were meant for me
by Thoor Ballylee
to view the tower within and without
not as sight is generally seen
but the inward gold revealing
words in their swaning
near to the cliffs of death
then light almost falling away
sprung back in singing
their accuracy then
becoming the favoured wound of the heart
the one from Eden remembered
closer, then to God, having just left Him
and the angels with their swords on fire
it is no small thing to walk in such a place
as Thoor Ballylee
a thing I would wish for in dreams
to see if by contemplation on Yeats art
I could see myself ‘the holy tree'
bloom, in my own heart.
a thing that could not then
be taken from me.

mary angela douglas 6 october 2023; 9 october 2023