Morning’s Arrival
By
Jennifer Angelina Petro
The tree leans in,
Taps the window.
The one inside
Rises slowly,
Moves, touches the pane.
Suddenly it’s gone—
Dissolving into vast, open spaces;
And the freshness of the air
Fills the body, lifts the spirits,
Calms the mind, frees the soul.
The one inside
Breathes for the first time
In years, allowing the fingers of the tree
To dance over them
With the utmost tenderness,
Spreading a joy so clean,
So almost unimaginably sweet–
Yet there it is—rivering through them.
And as the tree continues its feather-light
Touches, the one inside
Moves further, closer, and climbs
Into its branches, settles
Into its arms, and the tree—
Rooted deeply in the cool, delicious earth,
Cradles the one inside, who is now
The one outside, and lifts them up
Towards the moon and the stars,
Holding them aloft—a new born
Child—and sways, and hums
Freedom songs into the sky, and waves as gently
As morning’s sun-filled arrival.
