Rhetorically Speaking, Into The Vast Of Dream (Final Version) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

(fragment from a possible song cycle on 'The Twelve Dancing Princesses.')

if we brushed our hems of apricot
against the gold dust of the day
would we then sing we are beyond time now
I cannot say but I can dream
that all that glitters is not seen
or if I wished belatedly or washed my face
in a crystal stream like princesses in storybook exile
would life seem not so heavy after awhile
dancing in dungeons break the spell,
the clouds lift, revealing the moon
and the night grow calm?

mary angela douglas 19 november 2021; 2 april 2023