On Her Wintry Planet, At The Close Of Day Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

to mz

'...and it was summer, beautiful summer'
-Hans Christian Andersen's last, perfect sentence of The Snow Queen

on her wintry planet, at the close of day,
the snow queen counts her silver
and her stores of haze.

and this is confusion, put to good use
she says, as she does always
when prisoners are numb and sway

in the mirrors as if they were free.
she smiles; and glaciers grow greener
in the seas and more distracting;

she hunts sorrows

with the polar bears, at ease
and stocks her quivers with snarled,
snatched colors from the Northern Lights

above the suddenly bleak rooftops.
indoors, the tea forgets to boil...

flowering with the frosts
and almost, peerless;
off-the-shoulder accomplished

dream her mirrors,
or only seem to; succint.
collapsing the sunsets.

and in her eyes,
the linen of uprooted skies.
who is the queen of snow blindness

she almost, sings;
regal, from certain distances.
and the white bees sting.

but somewhere in a summer
she has forgotten to freeze,
a child weeps into the roses underground

and murmurs, Kay, Kay...
where are you?
and the Maze is raveling.

and the little stars.

mary angela douglas 20 june 2014
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