Never Go Away

[to my mother, Mary Adalyn Young-Douglas
and to my sister, Sharon Foster Douglas]

clear this space! I heard the Angel thunder
and the green glades came down from gilt ceilings
before our eyes the beautiful machinery

in place, the mists lifted
fronting the castles the snowy pirouettes 
of the ballet brides and it is

there the sleeping princess will be found.

and the briers part,
and the heart with the paper arrow through it
the blue ribboned doves

serenely sails above the scenery.
this is the stage we thought we had lost:
a cardboard theatre heart stoppingly

beneath the candlelit tree unwrapped
and carefully
and the scent of balsam

and the balsam angels careening

floating and singing:
green be the glory
be it early or late

may the greeness
the apple white mays this time!
never go away...

never go away echoed, half-wailed  the child
in the sunlight lifting her hand
to shield her eyes

while Mama vanished with the angels
she thought
on the way to the corner store

mary angela douglas 24 january 2016