Angelica the Doorkeeper

Anonymous

The falcon soars
The town's gates are even higher

Angelica's their doorkeeper
She's wound the sun round her head
She's tied the moon round her waist

She's hung herself with stars.

Commentary

Translated by Anne Pennington.

For some reason, these six lines seem to have stuck permanently in my memory. Again, I’m not quite sure just why this should be so… perhaps it has something to do with the way the individual images, though fairly ordinary (albeit nice) in themselves, seem disconnected, even, at times, hallucinatory, in combination. The overall effect is mysteriously beautiful (or do I mean beautifully mysterious?)

— Thomas


The Wondering Minstrels, poem #156 · 22 July 1999

Poem selected by Abraham Thomas

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