On The Pavement After The Museum Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

make of a star the remnants of a day

you wished so hard the sun

would not slide away

make of the rose

a kind of entryway

these things are possible and yet

why are the nightmares

always so hard to forget

oh God.

open for us the wounded crystal door

we flee from things we hardly can ignore

open for us the breathing space of trees

and hide us in their gardens green concealed

that then with you

with forever we might not be seen

shade us in all the summer years to come

keep us from the winters so undone

though art is sweet

and beautiful, beyond retreat

it is a fleeting drum;

only You abide.

mary angela douglas 11 june 2023