Second Breath

Scattered flakes of cherry petals drift

Down upon the soil; the inmost eye

Sees them borne upon a gusty wind

Like confetti thrown by some Divinity.

The persistent beat of fast emerging growth

Unheard by all but the listening soul,

Heralds again the age-long round of birth

And joy that sings untroubled by the fall

That leafless welcomes winter's solace in.

Only the Lenten roses will survive

The frozen days and empty nights that kill.

Driven by unknown fates are we alive

To life that lies beyond the door of death

The resting place for our second breath.