We Wondered Where They Had Gone, Marveled The Keepers Of The Cabinet Des Fees

shimmering nightingales have landed on my patio

cried the princess, all in silver

though there was none to notice.

so she stood there rippling among the rainbow banded songs.

they were not frightened as she fed them with wild irises

and the light she shone on them from her own recesses

was like rose velvet to a child.

she is not far from the land quoth she

though their pockets are overfilled with sand.

the quarter moon smiled

when she half-turned,

spooning out for them the

mother-of-pearled.

this is the twilight to which you have come,

she murmured, the last branch on the tree.

the beauteous banishment and the last trolly out.

let the winds blow the whole earth apart,

rid of the myth of you.

not missing your glissando.

shouting as if you had never been.

while I weep crystals.

the quarter notes sleep.

and they bring charges for

all we've not done wrong.

jeweled, in the cabinet of my soul,

in opal intaglio-

into God Himself I have carved your song.

mary angela douglas 26 june 2014