Not Everyone Will Stand Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

not everyone will stand

some people will sit

some crouch below jeweled mines

some people will be enthroned;

sent gaudy valentines.

some people will toss, on the stone or dirt floor

in their sleep making their mothers weep

yet making music beautiful again; or art

or under a sullen bridge departing

or where the odd trestle gleams

having more dreams than nightmares

having more nightmares than dreams

some from ludicrous battles unclasped

victory at last over the clouds

some people will fall over

dead from no sleep into fields of clover

or the Elysian

their golden dogs inconsolable. some

in prison cells

or anywhere they feel unwell

others will collapse

just like that loaded down with flowers

that none but them can see

and be time lapsed into Eternity

some people dissolving in the seas

of old maps.

over all,

the same silver coin of a moon.

angels hushing the skies.

a month of no rain

mary angela douglas 29 may 2023