I DON'T CARE IF THE CASTLE IS PINK

I don't care if the castle is pink as ice cold sunsets

if the false queen reigns the one who

deceived the king

I don't care

if lilied ponds by the dozens

are arranged there

and an oven that can bake 10,000 loaves 

at a time as delectable as cakes

I don't care;

if the children are sent into exile

their slates broken

and must feed on what they find

in the wild;

tear the pink castle down

it is lurid among the strangled hills

and the songbirds fled

even before they could be banished

officialdom is that slow

at the first clip clop of the new bride

on horseback

and the horse reared over the drawbridge

almost causing a natural end

to all the woes to come.

mary angela douglas 7 may 2023