We Are So Rooted Here

we are so rooted here, sending our shoots into the ground
as though we were trees
how can we leave 

how can we believe we will be leaving
here.
where we have barely learned 

the colours of the skies
before we have dried the tears of the sun.
still, we go on

still we number Christmases, the least birds

song, the fractures in 
the heart within the heart that endlessly nesting
we may still be bearing up

bearing our load of gold and neglect

 a certain transition in dreams;
that means more than it seems
the curve of the swan reflected

in the vanishing stream

mary angela douglas 10 february 2019