We Had Wings Back Then

you're not the person standing still
in the summertime birthdays at your will
though pink candles on a similar cake

seem to belie it
and though you wouldn't mind
fitting into the blue dress

with the flared lace sleeves again
that caught in the breeze
lace butterflies at their ease

and evening skies surmise.
you smile at me
because you think

I'll never be wise.

just to be in the rose garden again
a few steps from the back porch then
would mean more

than the treasures galore
we stared at in the book
with that picture of

the party perfect pirate chest
golden coins spilling out
and Mardi Gras beads

and we'd go hunting on the playground
again in the brief time alloted for recess
certain the pirates had left it there.

not knowing we would look for it.
Kids the advertisement would say
on the back of the kid magazine

pirate maps, just for you
why don't you
order a few

for you and all your friends
and you'll go looking again
maybe it's under the honeysuckle?

the big pine by the swings?
or tucked away in somebody's cigar box
with the school supplies.

costume jewelry rings
Sit up straight girls
Grandmother said

or you'll get wings;
she didn't mean that kind.

oh we had wings back then.
we just didn't know yet
how to use them.

mary angela douglas 15 january 2018