“the sweetness of waking”

the sweetness of waking
to a sparrow
outside the open window
on a morning marking
one year since
my friend shut herself
from again waking
to such sweetness.

it is
an exquisite loneliness
to wake again
to her memory
on a day like
this.

that is what
it is.

on a day i prayed
for
the gray of rain,
the sun woke me;
cloudless at dawn.
the blues would
not
let me stay down.