Never, Never Melting

we were holding the train of the Snow Queen
as if the snows were Alencon lace
and above the sleet the sliding traffic always

on the glass mountain.
are you half asleep I asked my sister
and she always said oh not now

and that made me laugh.
how could I know the Snow Queen
bided Time

and the sweep of the snow
could obliterate the dream time too
all those tracks we made

in the silver realms.

we could always be new I thought

with every Spring.
but in the Spring we were chilled quite through.
never mind

chimed the cloisonne clock,
old jewelry and the flasks of perfume
on Grandmother's dresser.

we will get better at dressing for the weather
and we will forget our servitude.
knowing we are silver too

in our dresses and with their endless veils
of moonlight, perpetual lilac, deep in our thoughts
deep wells ourselves with the arc of the white gold flowers branching over us

all those stories we used to tell ourselves,
never never melting.

mary angela douglas 9 january 2020