Early Bird || Samantha Jennings

It is 6:40 in the morning,

And I watch out the window leading to the world.

The sky has just begun to lighten

With the intimate promise of spring.

I wonder how much time I will have with you

Until the icy blackness on the sidewalk melts into soft rain

Into the perennial daffodils that will die into the flourishing fullness of the grass.

The late summer trees outside the window that once knew you better than I

Will soon emerge yet again to know you and to love you just as I do

It feels wrong that these trees will have you when I cannot

Standing proud and mocking me with their offer of endless time

Outside the window.

The birds chirp a hysterical hymn ushering in the new season

All at once the air feels expired like sour milk

Choking and forcing me to open the window and face those taunting trees

And that sickening bird

Constraining me to give you up.

My eyes tear away from the window

And it's 6:41 in the morning.