church chimes play
at dinnertime each day
girl waits in trees
for loneliness to leave
words come and go like summer
before you know, the poem's over
but the sun is a good lover and she's
alive to sing of the love that leaves too soon
alive to wring the last of the juice from june
alive to recite a sonnet out of tune
alive to lose the man in the absent moon
you'd think a girl like her could starve
feeding on the breath of trees
you'd think a girl like her could wait forever
prostrate on her knees
and a girl like her could weather before anybody sees
but she's a girl just like the summer and the sun is all she needs
to be alive ...
© 1999 paula pryce