PAST OUR WAKING DREAMS

 

 

PAST OUR WAKING DREAMS

They have forgotten the things we knew

Or else never known them at all

So that we feel no longer current in our time

And incapable of floating on the current

As if we stood outside of events

Like shadow courtiers of some sun king

Long ago deposed

As though all heroes were gone

By which we marked our place in the book of time

Or never been born in the first place,

Exiled or

Erased from the page by a more trending hand.

Some are.

Except in memory they cannot stand. Unless in the books

That once were fresh news not the parchment of fairy tales.

The dew on the rose of our present existence when

We were young too. We feel more absent not called

To the roll, not even on the roll sometimes

We collect old bottles and cant cash them in

Send in last centuries coupons to be redeemed.

To be redeemed is our last task now.

We collected what we could of stardust

Now we look at the constellations

And wonder if they feel aged.

If Spring with her fresh green

Will still recognize us.

As we live on

Past our waking dreams.

On the front porch of no longer

In a flowered wrapper.

The sunset in our morning tea.

Mary angela douglas 22 march 2024