White Frosted Flowers And The Stenciled Stars

white frosted flowers and the stenciled stars
I remember most of all; bright candies
in jars, the mottled rose of the dawn

(all the flats and sharps in place for us)

clarified winter air by the bus stop
where we made clouds
as if we were magic, only by speaking into it.

on our way to school and we have
learned to write, oh miracle,
on wide ruled paper.

how lingering at home by the
almost Christmas windows seems at times
when I look back where the vented heat rises

the gleamingest precursor of Heaven possible.

and stronger than morning brewed  deeper
than that stillness all around before the
sparkles come down again to make of the

front yards this sublime cream valentine-

is this feeling of beauty, once again, made real;
the Kingdom that we dreamed of in our play-
even on a winter day some 50 years later-

not at all, far from us.

mary angela douglas 20 january 2016