We Might As Well

so much we loved the cherry sheen
on the surface of words we heard
at nursery level

then puffed them out in our play
learning the consonants of joy
and sentences when words laid end to end

were the train cars complete.
we would travel then, replete
in lollipop swirls

or flung into the red and taffied day
and hold words on our tongues
at bay like cherry lozenges

bursting to say something, anything
but having to be still by the classroom sill
and fizz not.

fizz not. forget me not.
that's blue and a flower.
and such is the dower of our hours

when with words we play
we might as well wear wreaths of flowers
and be queens of the may.

mary angela douglas 22 february 2018