After the Bombing
A chilly Spring unfurls itself
–most beautiful, more
heartless than hail
City pear-trees lift up
their foamy heads, hopeful as ever
the magnolias preen
brief-blooming, filling
their delicious creamy throats
with purple wine
And the willows–
oh, those grievous willows
luminous now at road’s edge
their pale yellow streamers
greening day by day
Everywhere you look
this new leafing-out:
each morning’s merciless
unfolding
sharp as shrapnel
GERALDINE ZETZEL POETRY 