C'era Una Volta... Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

C'era una volta...

once upon a time
and the story you remember
as painted so fine
the leaves upon the wind
like a bright embroidery
the light upon the square
like a light bell tolling
the evening in its wake
and you will wake too
in a lemon grove tune
and we will tell stories
till the afternoon
and then depart
for a job that keeps repeating itself
after only a light lunch
where you only have time to munch
a few times
and then to file the world so meticulously
from A to Z
and then home.
and home is a lavender field
where you speak in purple
no evening news but the fairy tale phonics
of what cannot be translated
but remains beautiful
as frescoes on the wind
the crown of the Infinite King
and children singing
unquenchably luminous
into the never setting sun.

mary angela douglas 1 april 2023