"Just For a While" by Donald Mason


Just for a while I saw the world as it 
really ought to be 
The springtime buds of tiny leaves 
giving birth to serenity 
Mice dart through the catnip in the 
corner of the yard watched only by a 
lady of stone 
Who pours liquid diamonds to her 
children of gold while the house cat 
sleeps on her throne 

The heat of the day brightens the 
green to an almost painful hue 
Moss ravishes kisses on the lady of 
stone but blocks the guardian's view 
Bird songs drift aimlessly on 
honeysuckle air as snakes squeeze 
the scent from the vine 
The summer ravages the fruits of our labor turning what once was ripe
into 
wine 

Mother Nature chokes herself out 
tuning her golden green into red 
Leaving no nourishment, but only dry leaves where our lovely minstrel
once bled 
Withered vines dry and contract and 
snap the limbs from the trees 
Flowers wilt like begging peasants, 
their guardian angel cracks with 
disease 

My chair is warm and the nights are 
long as I sit by a roaring fire 
But there's one last thing I want to do before I kick off my shoes and
retire 
I go stand at the foot of a snow angel,
head bowed with a funeral smile 
And I tell her how wonderful things 
once were, if only just for a while 

 
Posted March 7, 2000.