Even If Her Dress Is Spun From The Colour Of Moonlight

you can't stay home and stare at the rain forever
that much is plain even in old fairy tales
even if your dress is spun

from the colour of moonlight.
bestir yourself, go out in the lanes
to seek your fortune they exclaim

and they really mean it.
or watch the pantry dwindle till
there's no black bread for certain

and no cheese. do what you please
the mothers scold their daughers
longing for cherry silk sleeves,

a waist of figured lilies.
make haste! time has few golden showers.
you're on the brink of something

it's not picking flowers near the Alpine
will get you fast anywhere
so you go out and scour the village

for free because no help is wanted there.
and bind and bind your golden hair
in nets threadbare and missing sequins

except for when it rains
and you're all silver then
and know the cost of things.

mary angela douglas 14 july 2015