Coming Out Of The Spell, Gladly

have I mislaid the fairy tale tasks?
well, not the ones set for me by others
who wanted their castles finished by sunset

and then larger ones by next evening. instantly.
did I come here for real estate I wondered;
was this why my mother pricked her finger

on a rosebush so that she never saw me again
and why I was selling roses on street corners
and little else dreamed because I was too tired?

I will learn to see
the moon as the moon only; also the sun
floating through flushed clouds

as I did once when happiness
fell easily to me from out of any vivid sky.
than I had nothing to do with

those
who dwell only under toadstools
always coniving,

in vain in vain
seeing us all the same
if indeed, they saw us at all;

devising new afflictions wall by wall
to keep us in
when the old ones passed away impossible

impossible to please

on every given day.

mary angela douglas 24 november 2015