Did I Arrive Too Early In My Apple Green (Final Version) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

did I arrive too early in my apple green
maybe I should have regretted
almost treading on winter's shadow
removing one charm from the bracelet of the sun:

the one shaped like a treble clef?
the tiny piano with the hinged lid?
these were my crimes

the winds never whispered through the lilies.
the fir trees.
there was a meeting somewhere instead.

Persephone's rumors that Spring was dead.

did I arrive too early in my apple green
confounding the centuries
and steeples with their glitter snow.

on Christmas parchment,
reveries on the snow globes
where the snow came down
in the unsuspecting orchard.
I should know.

mary angela douglas 28 january 2015; 11 november 2023