HERE IS THE HARBOUR WHERE THE RUBY SHIP

[for Amanda Sullivan on a beautiful photograph she composed]

here is the harbor where the ruby ship

docks with its curios long-forgotten

with its bolts of

hidden brocade, its doll finery
and tangerines
its rose of attar* and

its ambergris; its bears of little or
no trepidation
its dolls with eyes that close
and open

on the fairytale reprised
in waves smoothed beneath us
like spun glass.

here are the peppermint towers
of former graces, bracing the river
and its silk-screened sky-

the hold where the jeweled
nightingale is free:
the soul's music-box in tune

and every reflection is reflecting
a happiness vivid and undisguised
and buildings white as cream arise

on the banks of former desolations.
and non-industrial uses of the day.


and everything is a surprise
but perfectly pictured as in the heart
where no one loved
need ever depart

mary angela douglas 2 may 2009

*rose of attar is attar of roses reversed to indicate the photograph's mirroring waters.