As If It Could Be That Way Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

let me exchange
as if it could be that way
three more wounds later on
for the silver crumbs scattered
under sudden moonlight
for I'm misplaced
in this kingdom of glass
where anything breaks into
rainbows if you just look at it

and always picking rose-petal words too fast
to be believed by the nursery floor
lions split at the seam
half-splayed in their pink
night-lighted dreams
and always butternut whispering:

'why is she always this far
from the castle
and no further-

waiting to be believed? '
as if it could be that way.
that I may not distress
any further the voice
of darling God caught in the
brambles, every time;
moving that stickily on Lily-pad Paws
too beautiful to be believed,
oh my savannah.

to be believed.
as if it could be that way.
when I have closed my eyes
too far to see
and no one comes to find
I will exchange
one small rose petal kingdom
Misplaced in the kingdom of glass
for three more wounds later on
when this has passed.

there's too much shattering, anywhere-
so that even the roses know it,

the rumpling lions


mary angela douglas 21 april 2012