Cherry Blossom White

(A song of the suburbs)

You open bright paper petals

To the empty sky and the scarring wind

Launching your tiny, suggestive scent

In shockwaves on the evening air.

Birds wake to the sound of it, and bees;

Gnats spin in clouds, dizzy with cherrythoughts.

Small flies wade in your anthers: pollen sticks

and spreads, with the promise of stones.

 

Tossed, on a coiled Spring morning

Your petals shake and blur

A sudden tremor, a passing van

Sets pavements dancing, white as wedding-day.

Cleverly, in the dust of streets

Pulverised by cars and summer’s drought,

You cram the sun’s pulp into fruit

Fit for starlingfeast and sparrowpie,

Then fade to brown.