Woodblock At Sea Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

for the artist, Hokusai...

oh the prophetic wave

suspended above my heart

but what is the prophetic wave

compared with immortal art

art that freezes forever

so that it cannot be

ever ever reaching the island

for eternity

art that suspends the wave

so that it cannot kill

every living thing on earth

no matter what is willed

frozen in the woodblock

blue and bruised and spare

but never able to flood the chambers

beautiful and rare.



I will sing forever

disaster averted so

and thank the Lord who made the stars

that such a mysterious image

my heart could come to revere

that glazed upon the surface

free of the gasping fear

beauty still may linger

and doom may not appear

o trajectory forfeited

from year to shining year.

mary angela douglas 20 july 2023