Tightly Closed in Open April during the Cherry Blossom Time
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
Remembering sapphire air, I think of you.
We shared a cut gem spring which lasted long
And long because the sapphire air was blue
As Dante never knew. The springtime’s song
Was lengthened by the diamond coolness stretched
Across unworthy Washington. No breeze
Presumed to blow too hard. The coolness etched
Protection for the April redbud trees
Whose blossoms tried to keep themselves as tight
As you. You had a fear that love change
The weather and the wind, and bring a blight
Through ice and tempest from an Arctic range.
Those did not come. You did not open, though.
You stayed as closed as redbuds fearing snow.
~ Phillip Whidden