we said we were holding on
on postcards to the universe
the tinted kind
with the sunset over venice
in sweet strange hues
of lemon, mint a
tangerine pink
a strip of violet, blue
I saw old towers
and the scattered few
the dead doves by the Sound
I cried for the ancien regime
in all my dreams
didn't you
the gardenias in the little garden close
my inevitable rose tree
and turrets downed from
the foreign embassies
a controversy of rare stamps
the Royal Mail
it said one day
on a pristine envelope
being a volume from the UK
and volumes say more
than sepia words can say
at a time tunneled stance
blowing the snows away
we melted on
to other vistas, songs
not knowing we were ghosts of
cities with unpronounceable names
not even the same name twice
mary angela douglas 14 january 2018
on postcards to the universe
the tinted kind
with the sunset over venice
in sweet strange hues
of lemon, mint a
tangerine pink
a strip of violet, blue
I saw old towers
and the scattered few
the dead doves by the Sound
I cried for the ancien regime
in all my dreams
didn't you
the gardenias in the little garden close
my inevitable rose tree
and turrets downed from
the foreign embassies
a controversy of rare stamps
the Royal Mail
it said one day
on a pristine envelope
being a volume from the UK
and volumes say more
than sepia words can say
at a time tunneled stance
blowing the snows away
we melted on
to other vistas, songs
not knowing we were ghosts of
cities with unpronounceable names
not even the same name twice
mary angela douglas 14 january 2018
