Beribboned Stand-Alone Petticoats Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

beribboned, stand-alone petticoats
in the winter sunshine,
seamless snows, half-stitched in hope

on a day less forlorn-

peek from her garret wardrobe
though she knows, she thinks
she'll never wear them.

even the dress is so far off.
but she imagines it:
a rose confection, done in tulle

or skylark's blue with a faint glimmering
of gold, or handsewn sapphires, reticent pearls?
emerald, set as the stone of the days that follow;
the early springs

are the thoughts of her, embroidered.
and stashed so far that no one finds it yet
her primrose heart, the earliest sign

in the fairytale book of a little girl's first reading
that here on earth, beyond the birthday candle shine-
sheer peerless beauty has been known to sigh,
but not surrender-

in such untwinkling times.

mary angela douglas 26 july 2014