Once I Waited Till Dawn Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

[a prayer at the present time]

once I waited till dawn
for one white word from You.
I remember the greenness then.

the aprilness of everything.
the dew on the grass where I kneeled.
the stars that were my own.

time has carried these away
so that I feel I was nor there
where the rose blossomed out

of the dark and the rains finally ceased.

if I could reach back far enough
would I find You there in the same
white whispering as of leaves

against the pearlescent skies
and oh would the trees remember
it was I who counted then

on their guardian shade.
or was I another person then
and just unwise

and has it really been that long
when I was accustomed

to think the earth was
only made of birdsong

mary angela douglas 20 february 2016