In Your Absence by Judith Harris : The Poetry Foundation [poem]

In Your Absence by Judith Harris : The Poetry Foundation [poem].

In Your Absence

In Your Absence

By Judith Harris Judith Harris

Not yet summer,

but unseasonable heat

pries open the cherry tree.

It stands there stupefied,

in its sham, pink frills,

dense with early blooming.

Then, as afternoon cools

into more furtive winds,

I look up to see

a blizzard of petals

rushing the sky.

It is only April.

I can’t stop my own life

from hurrying by.

The moon, already pacing.

Poem copyright ©2007 by Judith Harris, whose most recent collection of poems is The Bad Secret, Louisiana State University Press, 2006. Reprinted by permission of Judith Harris.