In that tree, Maria

You were there
when I gazed upon that tree.
You were there
dancing beneath emerald fingertips,
lighted by the lamplight;
your ethereal silhouette
was there, poised starkly
against a darkness
I could not name.

You were there
in language and in breath.
You were there
in muscular stature.
You were there
when a friend would have been lost
had you not been.

You were there
in brave pursuit of a love.
You were there
waiting as he was
swept from your outstretched hands;
as the corner of his smile
was captured
in a greedy clutch.

You were there
to forgive,
when we both knew
you should not.

You were there
in an age of innocence.
You were there in the quiet hours
of corruption.
You were there
to watch me rise again;
a phoenix,
mimicked by a firebird that was
you.

You were there -
until you were not.

Then you were
dwindling beside an hearth
that would not light again;
the phoenix seen in
you
could be mimicked no more.

You were
crumpled on the floor.

You were
burnt out; swept under
the carpet of time's undoing.
You were
an ashen memory,
vague against the blazing spirit
I knew you to be.

But

You are here now
in secret glimpses,
when I gaze upon that tree.

You are here
now!
For all to see -
dancing beneath emerald fingertips,
lighted by the lamplight;
ethereal silhouette
poised starkly
against a darkness I
cannot name.

----
For Elisabetta Maria Bianchi