When I Stood In The Emerald Rain

when I stood in the emerald rain

all these things came back to me

with no translator.

make the fairytale your own-

you said to me, or meant to say-

whenever you want to be absolved

from old distress and the knot in your stomach

this far from home.

whenever I stand in the emerald rain

these are the words I say to myself

when no one else is listening

but the last bird singing in the jeweled rain.

mary angela douglas 11 february 2010

Goodbye Again, In Emeralds

the wobbly weather vane comes to rest

oh bottle-green world I can't pretend

to know who I am without you

anymore

the glass of your towers totters and then,

rights itself

(I don't know how)

but I'm too far to go back, now-

either way,

left in-between

counting the wonders remaining

to one side, the prairie stars

and farther ahead, forever unwinding-

the vast plains of emerald, nonpareille-

mary angela douglas 10 february 2010

Lion, Tinman And Scarecrow

lion, tinman and scarecrow:

was I ever really with you?

did I really wear those shoes?

I wonder if you think of me

and where you landed

if you landed

when your own storms were

brewed-

could we ever do again

what we did then

believing in everything as it lay before

God in our pocket

on a golden road-

so close to the emerald door

mary angela douglas 20 october 2007

The Tinman's Christmas Dream

with the corner of her blue-green apron

she dabbed away the tinman's tears

how dreadful to be left alone

for years she cried

and no one come to

take you home.

the tinman slept, he dreamt

of tin stars meshing in the Heavens

and a kingdom gauzy as

Christmas lights where little children

played for him on little tin whistles

and asked him, when he cried

for joy?

"What makes your Heart so shiny?"

mary angela douglas 10-11 february 2010

Lion (And You Know Which One)

the dandelion lion on the cream-colored road

swished his tail in the churning fog

"I'm not afraid," he almost roared

(quite unsettling the little dog)

"of any beasties I can't see

whenever my friends are here with me."

the dandelion dandy lion

when lemon ice-box stars emerged

purred with joy on the

butter-rum road, picking out thistles

from his curlicued fur

and melted gruffly

(wouldn't you?)

as the sweet green castle

came in view-

mary angela douglas 9-11 february 2010