Memento Vivere Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

Memento Vivere*
in loving memory to my mother, Mary Adalyn Douglas-Young (1927-1993) and
to Sara Teasdale (1894-1933) , with abiding respect

pink marigold suns have slipped away
like the cameo cares of Sara Teasdale
but I am here

with the dove-lasped valentine
folded up I always meant to
send her, across time-

and the air of St. Louis
crumples like rose parchment
kindling lost kingdomes:

are you there?

as I hold out one cream starched
dawn's particular corner
for you to catch- dim orchards washed-

green rains...

forget-me-nots at tea

I'm dreaming a cloud
like an envelope. sepia-dipped
twice over. filled
with your manifold

weeping harps your sunbursts

but it's delayed, misplaced,
and where

will I really be that
ringed with light again
sustaining when I can
the fleeting imprint of so many violet skies...

here at the orphaned window still
I trace your leaves and lilies through the mist
in tinctured starlight
scrapbook cherished

wishing you were here:

weighing in scales of pearl the clockface moon
but the afternoon grows older, after all

the tide of wishes turns...
above the noise of mere battlefields
every singed and salvaged word

I praise
and look past
the garnet consolations of the epic dead
to see

white wave on wave
of your delight
bright words

never blind, inlaid
like fires in opal
self-contained

the rainbowed startled reveries (of God)
inferred:

and on - at last-
the unclasped fairytale page unwavering
the heart stenciled postscript of the child

who cried for Beauty
and was heard-

mary angela douglas 13-14 march 2011
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*'Latin, remember to live'