ATLAS

 

ATLAS

I wonder where I put the atlas

I used to have near at hand

With all the streets of Disneyland

Marked out grid by grid

And the castles truly I planned

On living in later

Surely it was pink and green

The map of all those countries

And we looked through our binoculars on Saturdays

Thinking the ships should arrive at any moment

What shall I colour in of what remains

Standing amid my brightly coloured gardens

Trying to remember the flower names

I know there are hidden countries

Even more than I knew it then

That if we could find them

We would be full of so much solace

And so many singing birds

We would have eluded all grown up pain

And stirred to peace again, we would sway

on amber hammocks strung between

The trees with the golden apples.

There in the zenith of home

Where the green waters foam

We would plant our flags

Float our swan boats around the happy park’s glad perimeter

And never return.

mary angela douglas 11 may 2024