AS IF IT COULD BE THAT WAY

 

let me exchange

as if it could be that way

three more wounds later on

for the silver crumbs scattered

under sudden moonlight

for I'm misplaced

in this kingdom of glass

where anything breaks into

rainbows if you just look at it

and always picking rose-petal words too fast

to be believed by the nursery floor

lions split at the seam

half-splayed in their pink

night-lighted dreams

and always butternut whispering: 

'why is she always this far

from the castle

and no further-

waiting to be believed? '

as if it could be that way.

that I may not distress

any further the voice

of darling God caught in the

brambles, every time; 

moving that stickily on Lily-pad Paws

too beautiful to be believed, 

oh my savannah.

to be believed.

as if it could be that way.

when I have closed my eyes

too far to see

and no one comes to find

I will exchange

one small rose petal kingdom

Misplaced in the kingdom of glass

for three more wounds later on

when this has passed.

there's too much shattering, anywhere-

so that even the roses know it, 

the rumpling lions

mary angela douglas 21 april 2012