Snows

these angelic erasures from the skies we always missed
in summer family albums.
then there was magnolia, gardenia our favorite names

for flowers in any language, cherished perfume fantastical.
I will make you tiny bouquets of white roses so that you
feel no pain I would have said then if I had known

the erasures to come, the filling in of the valleys so that
now there are no landmarks, only this sweetness overwhelming
the darkness and the angels shaking the boughs over your fitful sleeping

and the little white flowers scattering on the pavements
you used to know.

mary angela douglas 12 april 2015