Dish With The Spoon And Other Things Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

hey diddle diddle
the cat and the fiddle
the cow jumped over the moon
the little dog laughed
to see such a sight
and the dish ran away with the spoon

-Old English Nursery Rhyme

young words in their emerald sheening grew
all cockleshell, silvered only for you
oh shine like old ivory sang the moon
the wind laughed at all your cherry ruffles.

that was before the candlestick wick
the flame that flicked the cow that kicked
the crystal bird flew

when we were new
and pages were thumbed
in starlight, shadows of starlight
and beside the rosy red.

and the world is made of posies someone said to you
nodding like a posy on your own stem;
putting the silver back into the skies;
the applesauce into the Spoon...

mary angela douglas 20 may 2014