Unless They Have Forgotten Everything Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

UNLESS THEY HAVE FORGOTTEN EVERYTHING
I write of gilded skies, the easter lily hymns
Shakespeare wrote not of the gilded monuments
But of enduring love
Some accounts say he did not expect his poems to live
Except the ones written for enduring love
Because that is precisely what he says in his sonnets
And not only once or twice
I think it is reasonable to say
All his work endured.
Perhaps all his work was written that way
With enduring love
Which in the end
Is more important than poetry
Or theatre
And yet poetry is valuable
whenever it preserves such love.
In the end the theme of all poets
Unless they have forgotten everything
In terms of scale.
mary angela douglas 14 april 2024