To Ancient Irish Song And Lament As Unto God Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

for you, Saint Patrick going back into slavery for the sake

of the King Of heaven and to the ancient songs, to Poetry.



not stridency nor a jagged glass

have I ever heard in the words I loved

but heaven scent as if a dove

had landed in my tree of poetry

even in the blasted bud,

the singed leaf

even accounting of all grief

still the words were starlight then to me

and now

the moon disappearing through clouds

yet the cloud still luminous.

in favor or out

and rich or poor

only the Word have I adored

the poems brave the poems unsure

unlocking the crystal of the heart

forbidding it to break.

mary angela douglas 18 march 2020