Another Variation On The Story

there should be hidden panels in the dress

with embroideries of traceries of the most cherished flowers

and when she began to dance they bloomed

with slippers to match to a music box tune

so many ways we imagined her;my sister and I,

colouring it in on a Saturday:

with velvet panniers a skirt of tulle festooned with little stars

and in pale blue, pausing on the staircase

where even the shadows sing

and their song is of violets

even though it's blanched white winter outside

and the true heart mysteriously must abide,

is a missed target while sealed valentines

with dovelike paper wings flitter away:

at large in a doll sized snippy land.

mary angela douglas 21 november 2021