Sometimes I Dream Of Awakening The Bells Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

Sometimes I dream of awakening the bells
Of pearl edged and rim to rim them ringing out
Christmastide forever and the snows on snows sing
And the worry lines are ghosted in people's foreheads
And the evergreen is more than evergreen
And everyone in the photograph suddenly looks young
Not the way time has modeled them as if they were decaying clay
Not all their golden dust turning to rust
It's the end of all wars today all the bells gather us to say
we weep for joy and dance with such excess
I dream of awakening the bells of the sun, the moon and stars
The clanging bells on the cows necks heading home
The school bells hand wrung that signaled going home
And running all the way
toward summer, and a thousand myriad freedoms delighted in
of the blues and the greens its all in my dream and berry picking too
I dream of the apple orchards blooming all the day
And the children too with no more nightmares
And we will pour the cream for the teas
That are never ending with their little delectable sandwiches
Oh even
The bells that tolled at sea
No longer necessary
As no one anymore drowned.
mary angela douglas 16 april 2024