Petals in the wind.
How like you
To leave me feeling scattered.

How like you
To take away my beauty
Without force, no shaking of the tree trunk,
Just the slow untangling, loosening,
Until I am adrift.

Do you hear it?
That gentle sorrow,
When all are marveling at the cherry tree,
The orchard in springtime,
The pretty picture it paints
In the skyline, the treeline, underneath hopeful feet
Of youth in the sweetness of first kisses, first loves –
The gossamer thread affixed in the fall.

In time, I will be made anew,
The petals you once brushed from my hair
Will not be mine anymore.
But still, each year,
I will relentlessly bloom
Until the axe has fallen, striking the heartwood.