The Rhymes Remembered At Least Subliminally Shining Somewhere Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

As if just another thief on the King's highway
so Time trips us up in its not so rubied slippers
showing us no way home from blue ribboned fairs
though that is neither here nor there
chime the fair maidens, chorus
the Graces in my maypole ribbon streaming
sing song slightly altering dream
beware
the gilded apple, take the plain one
bread and cheese (again!) and the tartest cherries
for the pies I cannot bake
or three Queens each
with a different fate in a ballad I pray not to live
still for God's sake I will keep the earliest signs
the crossroads of the lemons, limes
the bells of rhymney, clementine
the refreshing, difficult days with soda pops
turned sublime, the last of the strawberries
in just in time, old nursery rhymes;
like the sun there, come out of the clouds forever.
mary angela douglas 14 december 2023