Every Moment On Earth

every moment on earth its gold is ticking away

gold of the sun, gold underlay of the beggar disguise

the worn carnation petticoat of the shepherdess,

her jewels tucked into the seams, the goose girl

and the wandering gander dreams, wither wherever they wander

downheel, downhill in any weather;no more the wedding silver

ware

royalty in a plain disguise

learn to factor in enterprise

the figurine on the mantle with the subtle smile

ceramic, will be gone in a little while with the seeming sheep in the

meadow...

children have heard time out of mind consumed with their

applesauce apprehensions

the soft receding of fairy tale dimensions

when they were young mixed in with the wind

in the fitful playing of let's pretend

the fern leaning out of the window

toward the lilies blowing more orangely in the sun

I'm the only one in the world thinking this right now

said I in the how and why of it AND setting my small boats afloat

underneath the piano, its geranium stillness in late afternoon

and are you going away so soon

I quarreled mildly with my sister over

which rose leaf really did Thumbelina sleep beneath

and I mourn the candles of their going:

these tribes of the fleetingly beautiful:

this diamond diaspora of the morning dews

I mourn every leaf of what we never knew ,

blew over us, never to return

declensions, enumerations of the painted clouds

over everything we ever wondered outloud

look, I am saying it now that I

tocked the wonders, the waters away

the fingerpaint ridges, the dwarf star midges

the blue waters, blue violet of my watercolour set.

the wedding setting of radiance, the piloted angels over

all this crystal etching of

the planet dreaming in mists of the scratch art

layers of our wistfulness;

the rubied gleanings of the hours no longer in retreat

for it is meet:

this interdiction of Christ for the disappearing...

...

the sunflowered door, then the pouring rain of our tears;

the birds of forevermore, singing.

mary angela douglas 24 april 2021