The Program On Water Safety Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

Wouldn't it be fine to be in silver dressed
As if you were the queen of light or water
I said to myself one night after homework
The school assembly that week
Being on water safety.
I was chosen to be water
And envisioned my costume happily as fashioned with foil
Resembling fine droplets, the path of moonlight over a river spanned
in such a way as to be fairytale spangled and dazzling
And with a tin crown
Oh really the teacher said, exasperated; more than a little sarcastic.
She gave me a cardboard box with the flaps open over my school dress waist
She painted it dull tempera blue with my help, and dangled it from my shoulders like a sandwhich board
And at home, I cried. That such illusions died.
mary angela douglas 20 march 2024