For James Joyce At The Beginning Of Days Or Near It Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

For James Joyce At The Beginning Of Days Or Near It
in the childhood winds of her, Maria Stella,
Christmas Queen, dreamed, ivory tower
he sees the small ships rise,

the silver and the rubied and the dimming
surprise of the pearl coves opening

and the hidden doors. and the whole of Dublin

sea washed, as in a dream
the ruby ships of the children crest and the

silver ones and he is all at sea and does not remember

his dream or how he felt then
or what it was he wanted to be or

maria stella, queen of everything and of the fabled ships


that fall away too soon. the silver and the rubied
stream breaks off into the blanched thoughts in the afternoon
where the orchards are razed in the snow blinds

when all is losing, lost and the cost of forgetting
Maria stella, queen of all heaven-sent, scented winds and of the
beginning when

the small ships rise and the lore lies all before me when
prayer is love and love is prayer only
it is only

the moonrise in her eyes
and the harbor takes the little ships farther than the foam of
those who left before rippling back now, for awhile, into the small

coves
in the pearl coves and it overflows and he cannot forsake now can he
the silvered and rubied brimming over, the ruins of the beautiful

about his feet
in the shoals of his lost kingdoms

mary angela douglas 6 july 2014