Telling Time By The Flowers

then we could tell time by the flowers

by orange extravagances of the day lilies

or watching our shadows lengthen on the pavements

as if we had shaded them in with the red violet crayon

beside the small pink border flowers either side of the sidewalk.

or time was the heartbeat of the metronome while

outside in a different cadence the wind whispered to us

through the pines you are a child you will always be a child

playing these scales

flowing in this green moment...

let me fasten again my hair with the crystal butterfly

or use the porcelain mirror with the roses on it

and feel elegant for awhile before the world turns over

tumping out,as we used to say all its coloured ribbons 

on the moss floors., the less than level ground.

for the moment we have oceans of time.

so much time we could swim through it forever

grow a silver fin;be mermaids once again

and live in the watercolour our faces arrange

in the rain, over the roses.

mary angela douglas 14 january 2021