I don’t know what lifted me away
maybe cherry blossoms nudged loose
in sporadic flights
but slowly I realized
at a small outside table
I was in a gentle vortex
centering something so tentative
yet certain as an incoming tide
I felt balanced on my chair
no heavier than a leaf

Defiant trees tossing manes on the hillside
displayed every shade of green
although winter chill still clung under the overhang
so I was glad for the slice of sunlight on the ledge
where I rested my arm
everything within promising to resolve
in the cohering motion of the coming warmth

The couple behind me whispering
an intimate stream in a foreign language
swelling and lapsing with the trees
uplifting and paling
on the modulating winds of early spring

A man lifting off
widening to touch
shores beyond reach
disappearing in his breath
someone scattering his ashes
from a sea cliff at Pt Reyes