Jenna Hren

 

Look at the top leaf

Reaching as high as it can

Being so brazenly at peace

Atop the tallest tree

Centered perfectly at our cathedral;

University arboretum

That you must have walked

Some 30 years ago

When you still hadn’t met your wife

And my parents had just kissed

For the first time at a dorm party

6 hours north

 

We’re late bloomers

Winter blossoms dancing around buildings

That were here a hundred years before you

And will be here a hundred years after me

Tombs to our memories

Marked engraved and adorned

When you were young and living

And i was stuck and longing to be old

The sunflower in the patch

That started wilting its first sunrise

Yet stayed tall three winters long

Half a wish for the lonely rot to take its toll

The carpenter bees are coming out

The fly strike is consummate and hatching

Lovers kiss where i wish we could

Plan out the date and time and sit on the right side

Of the bench where i know you sat on the left

So many decades ago

And both turn at the same time

Butterflies gnawing at knowing this is

The closest we’ll ever get

 

Until one fine morning

Time fumbles in on itself

And the fabric folds

And i see you underneath that tall tree

Reading a book;

Winter blossoms abound