People Have Forgotten Somewhat Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

people have forgotten somewhat
Fairytales in the true sense
are not always about the
glittering endings
pieces of eight and parrots washed up on bleak shores
finding the right word to open aladdin's store
of jewels galore, the jewels with fantastical names
not the dance dress waiting to be worn
but toil and terror and sorrow compounded
sleep from a spindle wound 100 years
the weary swans of Eire
tin soldier heart melted in the fire
or everything is paradise and then falls away
Into weeping over the grave
yet on that grave grows a rose incomparable in
all the world
yet on that grave sings the bird remarkable
with a song that can't be equaled
that causes the moon to sink
Into the sea.

mary angela douglas 4 october 2023