It Is Astonishing The Princess Said (Final Version) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

it is astonishing the Princess said
seeing the bent twig flower after all
through cool disdain
through monkey puzzle maze

through pea-soup rains and the
sticky sun; whole summers without
lemonade.

sipping the air of home I would
have run in pale green skirts
forever; not even in fairytales

that kind of freedom shines.
see how the bent twig flowered after all
perfumed as all the rest,
but deeply different.

I pick this one for my portrait
done in tearose chalks:
the center of the nosegay-
mainstay of my heart
through cool disdain.

mary angela douglas 26 february 2014