Clockwork, The Princess Shedding Crystalline Tears Is Still Required To Fill Out Forms

am I clockwork then, she wondered,
to shed on the hour the selfsame tears
that turn to crystal and then

I start all over again.
it's the new year and suddenly
there's snow only I'm

in a globe and the snow is
the same snow the same snow drifting down
and swirling up again

and I am shaken but

my crown stays on
at least the children say so
but only on Saturdays

when we watch cartoons
and there in the afterglow of the tv's
blue white fade or is it stars I too

declare myself
the princess of

fading out

and cry the selfsame tears
and say to you whoever you are
that I am clockwork shedding

the selfsame tears
that turn to crystal and
this goes on for years that

I don't answer to you

and I don't have
any other information

to give you.

mary angela douglas 21 august 2015