Beauty Of The Seven Dresses

[an original fairy tale]

beauty of the seven dresses
a tale that proved my theory
that some tales are hand-me-downs

for their titles only,
some poems.
for the one thread throughout

the iridescent one
the one of pure viridian
and if you pull on it

the moon will unravel
the stars will pucker
in the night skies

and it will be all your fault

and then you will have a real story to tell
all over the kingdom if you live that long
only, this time, can you please describe

the seven dresses in one?
and don't forget to say that of course
if you had a dress like this

you're only going to wear your best
opals with it!

oh all right, I'll do it for you.
first of all, of course they were sumptuous:
each one in itself a paragon

such silks, such stuffs, such inset beadwork
colours of the Renaissance
deeper deeper by far than the Princess sighing

in the gardens; all the velvets you suppose
of rose of azure of provencal purples yes
and the veils over them misting so that

the other fabrics shimmer through like a seven note scale or
a perfume blended of the seven flowers

giving a hint of layered dimensions, superimposed
dream on dream unto the seventh scene

so that this is indeed a story of the seven joys
and cannot be embroidered too finely
no matter who translates it,,,

mary angela douglas 25 october 2015