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Issue # 2 September 2010
"... brevity is the soul of wit ..."
- William Shakespeare

Nina Soifer


 

One of 200 Species Found in Central Park

If I become an older, crankier woman, bring me
a jonquil, warm gloves, a cup of expensive sherry.
Don't wait for me anymore. I'll prefer to sit alone,

listen to the drummers drum, watch the children flutter.
But if I am still young enough, wrap me in organza,
balance me on a limb above a stream in the Ramble

where I will deftly swing. Let me stay until rainfall
when the drummers disappear, the fathers whistle.
If I choose to hover above the tree line and nothing

gets in my way, reach for me. Maybe then it will be time
to reconsider where I've been. Has the magnolia warbler
found her caller? Has the night heron tethered

the wind? Like that child pulling a thousand pebbles
out of one pocket, I have saved everything until now.