Mr. Tin In The Years Prior To

he recollected tin toys, the woodman,
tin pie plates, lots of fun.
a shiny childhood,

then, no one.
and years of gazing at the stars
knowing they were silver, not

tin at all.not titanium.
who, then, should he have been
he pondered when he could not win

in realms of rust
with the moonlight out
for sure the brightest object in the woods.

perhaps I am a planet dowering light
he thought. perhaps not.
what orbit is mine.

these were the years the years before
he knew what he was looking for
without the looking glass his mother made him.

almost, without a past
before the yellow path appeared
the emerald place

the heart endearing and endeared.

mary angela douglas 11 january 2020