The World Before

When I was a little girl

I skipped to the bottom of my street

And the smell of the lilacs

Ran up to greet me

And held my hand all the way

To school.

And when the storm was coming

The deep green leaves exposed

Their lacy undergarments

Vulnerable, but uninhibited

They danced like the possessed

About to meet their Maker

All frenzy, carefree

Joy.

And in the Autumn, fire unfolded

Like a blanket, rolling across the hillside

As if red and yellow and orange,

Holding their breath

All summer long,

Exhaled finally, and

Burst free through the surface.

Life was Felt then,

The air was a window thrown wide open

And green was not color, but fresh cut grass

And the dark, bruised blue sky,

The end of another day,

Like a wound:

Just looking at it

Hurt.