SOMETIMES I DREAM OF AWAKENING THE BELLS

 

SOMETIMES I DREAM OF AWAKENING THE BELLS

Sometimes I dream of awakening the bells

Of pearl edged and rim to rim them ringing out

Christmastide forever and the snows on snows sing

And the worry lines are ghosted in people’s foreheads

And the evergreen is more than evergreen

And everyone in the photograph suddenly looks young

Not the way time has modeled them as if they were decaying clay

Not all their golden dust turning to rust

It’s the end of all wars today all the bells gather us to say

we weep for joy and dance with such excess

I dream of awakening the bells of the sun, the moon and stars

The clanging bells on the cows necks heading home

The school bells hand wrung that signaled going home

And running all the way 

toward summer, and a thousand myriad freedoms delighted in

of the blues and the greens its all in my dream and berry picking too

I dream of the apple orchards blooming all the day

And the children too with no more nightmares

And we will pour the cream for the teas 

That are never ending with their little delectable sandwiches

Oh even

The bells that tolled at sea

No longer necessary

As no one anymore drowned.

mary angela douglas 16 april 2024