Slippers

she saw the slippers before
or thought she did
when she was just a little kid

at Eastertime
pink rosebuds mixed with baby's breath
new shoes she thought

Princess shoes
and then the bells tolled
1,2,3,

and the Easter grass was green
greener than in the baskets
can there be shoes of glass

the grade school years passed
she read every version

can there be shoes of glass
she wanted to ask, but who
by then she wanted

an alphabet of glass,
to explain it all,
clear crystal and

dewlike she wanted to

live in the letters etched
on crystal tablets
by the soon to be surpassing children

with a stylus of gold
and when she cried at night
and there were no stars

she told herself that story
over and over

mary angela douglas 25 april 2018