Castle Keep

when you're the only one awake in the castle
it's you that's got to keep the clocks running
the winds from winding down

the sun in its corner just behind the moon.
change places everyone you'll call out
just before the salmon tinted dawn

and you know you're the one to do it.
how late the courtiers sleep
but you don't falter

never earning your keep
because really they don't pay you
except in shepherd pies

the occasional apricot compote.
what is the life beyond the trees
the seas and the seas of the trees

so green is this April
and you would like to know
but you are the keeper of the snows.

mary angela douglas 14 april 2017