At the Window by Martha Christina

I’m grateful for this view
of our neighbors’ daffodils
and budding magnolia.

A dead leaf catches
in the arborvitae,
their privacy hedge;
not tall enough to hide
a kiss at the end
of a working day.
Not thick enough
to mute their
laughter, young
and fresh as spring.

Our last day together,
your lips opened
on your final breath,
then wouldn’t close.

I turn away from the window.



Martha Christina is a frequent contributor to Brevities. Longer work appears in Innisfree Poetry Journal, Naugatuck River Review, earlier postings of Red Eft Review, and is forthcoming in Crab Orchard Review and *82 Review. She has published two collections: Staying Found (Fleur-de-lis Press) and Against Detachment (Pecan Grove Press).