Valentine On The Seven Last Words Of Christ (Final Version) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

I am lost in the
Kingdom of the Heart
I said to no one living

since the day they felled the
Son of it all-
seven swords run through my heart

seven swords and more
and oh the hilts
set with rubies

with russet diamonds
with the sunset
of the world

and such a vein of
jasper runs through
the soul's so pleached amazement

that I forget the words to
sing to you
a last border ballad.

my soul.
become the white dove's scar
and anodyne of mercy-

the cleft on the curl of the
last creamed wave
in this senseless valentine
shadow-box, shadowed,

and displayed
shifted by unseen wires
and winds.

the dove cries out
from one Cinderella version particularly
there's blood on the track

there's blood on the track
and more, look back

to the fairytale motto
of snow-cut
delicate drastic cameo

deposition and descent:

Be True.
to the version scalding
the fairies newly showcased under broken glass-

scattering their gifts of light far
far from the retreating henchmen
among other Llast Things.

all swords dissolve
in the Love of God
the foremost in weeping

oh dove, dove, dove

mary angela douglas 1 june 2010; u19 august 2011; 18 august 2022; 4 october 2023