I Want To Be In A Beautiful Place

I want to be in a beautiful place.
with high ceilings and gilded domes
clouds painted on the ceiling

beneficent angels.
a room with a harp invisibly playing.
a playroom with the Ark

all the animals there in hand painted wood.
there would be no flood.

all the animals would fit.
the clouds would seem so real
in the vast blue and teal

I would hear my sister playing Chopin
and we would remember plotting to do good
such a long time ago

in a house of rose brick
a rose garden in the back
a kitchen drawer full of seed packets,

birthday candles, tacks.
I'd like to go there too.
and visit the Holy Ghost

the first green whispering of it.
and hear my Mama sing such Celtic songs.
while we learned the difference

between right and wrong.of false stops and new starts.
that we could dream of limitless things
and this, then, was Art.

mary angela douglas 25 october 2019