For Isak Dinesen, Her Incomparable Stories Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

threading words like pale pink diamonds

roseate through old demesnes

will the bearers of this message



sink or swim or just explain

will they vanish disappear

love the ghosts from nameless years



in the story find reprieve

in the richness of its seams

tidewater of the fading stars



does it mirror where you are



human hearts across the bar;

antiquated though it seems

just now waking from their dreams



bright enameled on each page

from a quite mercurial stage



from a realm none else could mine

looping shadows over time

quests forgotten lore renewed



emblematic of the few last- lost- curios...



chiming bells, an attitude

caught that moment in the light

anecdote or wrong set right



Edens green the long goodbye

will the princess even cry

there the countess, there the lie



there the vow that must not die

families of heraldic sin



ice floes at the story's end

when the sweethearts must depart

farther than the story's arc.





mary angela douglas 23 december 2019