IN D.C., FOR THE DURATION

lost in the unicorn tapestry dance

true chivalry forever wanes

I thought on the metro on the way to work

sardine crammed in the Capitol

what is so capital about that

but still I wandered there

when april was lightly on the trees

and all the petaled trees were mauve

from temp agency to agency all the livelong years

dreaming of antique gardens

where lutes played

and there were no filing systems, only impervious swans

while all the workaday mynahs echoed politics, politics

I lived in the museums

and by the still waters in psalm 23

and was berated in the clerical corridors

of the run off really obscure corners of Power

the unicorn clomped on in sweet imagination

and understood the traffic patterns

how to recede into the invisible forests

and cradle sudden moonlight on the monuments

and be my only friend

mary angela douglas 25 january 2023