THE PEACH COLOURED CASTLE: A MINOR HISTORIAN'S VIEW

the peach coloured castle
and the olive tinted sky of a vintage postcard
dotted its "i's"

and it was sent to me,
to me in all the world
said the little girl

in her faraway attic.
in her faraway attic she composed
songs for the clavichord

anthems for the rose
she dipped her pen in gold
out of love

for the doves at Cinderella's grave
the pale blue ribbons held aloft in the mottos
who can say how, ask why

of the long ago.

and in no haze at all
I heard her say
I will festoon the world

as she made plans
in her diaries of snow and

in the afterglow of sunsets viewed
through the VuFinder
of the Mickey Mouse maze.

oh come to the ballets
she murmured to her shadows
in all her days and ways

and dressed in lilac tulle
that sparkled from the stage
more than the Crown Jewels could.

I like to think of her that way
when I gaze back
and of the peach castle

as established fact.

mary angela douglas 28 march 2017