Valentine With Doves On The Seven Last Words Of Christ (Final Version) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

VALENTINE WITH DOVES ON THE SEVEN LAST WORDS OF CHRIST


I am lost in the

Kingdom of the Heart

I said to no one living


since the day they felled the

King of it all-

seven swords run through my heart


seven swords and more

and oh the hilts

set with rubies


with russet diamonds

with

the sunset of the world.


and such a vein of

jasper runs through

the soul's so pleached amazement

standing still-


that I forget the words to

sing to you

a last border ballad.


my soul.

become the white dove's scar

and anodyne of mercy-


the cleft on the curl of the

last creamed wave

in this senseless valentine


shadow-box, shadowed,

shifted by unseen wires

and winds.


the dove cries out

there's blood on the track

there's blood on the track


and more, look back

to the fairytale motto

of snow-cut


delicate drastic cameo

and descent:


Be True.


in the version scalded

by fairies under broken glass-

scattering their gifts of light far


from - from the retreating henchmen

among last things.

all swords dissolve

with the help of God

who is also weeping

who is also weeping

oh dove, dove, dove

mary angela douglas 19 august 2011,1 june 2010