The Cherry Tree

It was too quiet the other night.

I opened my mouth to let a single note into the air

but nothing could push past the silence

I remember as a little girl laying in the darkness with the katydids

the smell of green tinged with  the sweetness of decay

I would hold my hand in front of my face touching my palm to my nose

eyes searching to see what had been swallowed by the velvet blackness

I was pulled under by the terror of what I could not see

letting  fear cradle me until I could not move

---

Cutting through the stillness I heard the blood

moving through the vessels and the veins

And remembered the time that I wore my magenta shirt and it was so cold

but the cherry trees were in bloom across my chest

and nothing else mattered but your smile

---

For a moment I held my hand up to my face

and touched my palm to my nose

But when I saw the shadow of my hand  

with its lines and delicate moons

I knew I would never again have the moment of freedom that comes

with the terror of what I could not see cradle me until I could not move

Instead  I looked up and saw in the silvery glow

through the lines and delicate moons

the cherry trees in bloom