(Fae Malania wrote a lovely little book called Quantity of a Hazlenut -- a collection of essays on life and faith. Malania's husband was an Episcopal priest, who helped to update the Book of Common Prayer (in the 1970s, I think). When Malania passed away a few years back, Books and Culture published this poem, written in her memory by Marly Youmans. I was already a Fae Malania fan, and fell in love with the poem right away.)
The litter of fallen leaves is ankle-deep
And all my words are black ants on the page.
What can I say that's worthy of a life?
Your tower of private dreaming is no more.
Your mouth stops open like a chorister's,
The mirrors go veiled, the window's propped ajar.
"Ineffable," my dictionary sings
As starlight gilds the larches of paradise.
You drink from a shining cup and are made whole.
No, your isle of blessings is not like that.
It is beyond all our imaginings.
The words pour through me and are lost in mist.
The world in time's a dark and thirsty place.
Dear friend, from Paradise-the-blest, will you
Fetch me one drop to cool my burning tongue?
Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI love that! Will look her up.
ReplyDeleteYou might like this guy...
No, it is not yours to open buds into blossoms.
Shake the bud, strike it; it is beyond your power to make it blossom.
Your touch soils it, you tear its petals to pieces and strew them in the dust.
But no colours appear, and no perfume.
Ah! it is not for you to open the bud into a blossom.
He who can open the bud does it so simply.
He gives it a glance, and the life-sap stirs through its veins.
At his breath the flower spreads its wings and flutters in the wind.
Colours flush out like heart-longings, the perfume betrays a sweet secret.
He who can open the bud does it so simply.
His name? Tagore....Rabindranath Tagore (spoken like James Bond)
Gorgeous!!
ReplyDeleteHi Laura,
ReplyDeleteI'm always on the lookout for Fae-news and am glad to see her here, and with me too! I wrote that little poem not long after she died, reflecting on time spent in her room--with friends, with what remained of her. Someone did open the window...
Fae Malania was a very special woman. Oh, and some of the words in the new BCP are hers.