You Give Short Shrift To The Swan Decked Page Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

(in sorrow, for the Romantic poets of the past; in hope,
they will return)

you give short shrift to the swan decked page,
no quarter at all
to the glittering once upons
and sell your souls for political rage
I cannot love you post modern age
yet can I weep because your sleep is dreamless
and you like it that way.
past music bores you
that shook the stars
and if you go to Mars
you worship the trajectory
the machines that got you there
and not the God who placed in Space
the floating mysteries of so many torches
to light, tenderly, your oblivious way.
what have you got to say for yourselves
for decimating the majesty of poetry
and turning it into one long whine
at the cleverness of all mankind
or at how you were left behind
isn't that the greatest crime
by rampant celebrity. darlings,
moonlight seems wasted on you
the song of birds on the bed of pain
how much more could you disdain;
the beaded curtains of the rain
God save you from the paradise you'll make,
have made before
relegating beauty to a foreign post
breaking the heart of the Holy Ghost.
Shekinah! the glory of God.
mary angela douglas 15 december 2021