And I Was Alive In The Cherry Sprigged Day (Final Version) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

and I was alive in the cherry-sprigged day
she said to herself, smoothing her rose taffeta-
before the recitals dissolved and just when

the sprinklers were on and we went out
secretly into the side yard
plucking the sunset gardenias
my shadow and I

in our familiar glen.
and will it lengthen
in the blue. blue grass

my soul's flounced dress
pink as the azalea shrubbery lasts
with God forever
taking out the hem.

will the dusk settle
like a summer snow
like a summer snow

on all you know
tinting the ice cream
and the moonlight that
was then and can I live there-
ever again

mary angela douglas 28 february 2014; 8 november 2023