The Braeburn Tree ** Options

[Eisa]

The Braeburn Tree


Mother-like it stoops, watching Sheba’s endless
sleep, drapes its blush pashmina over her in spring.

Its body inclines across the slender path to bask
in solar warmth; arms grasp us as we grapple to pass.

After harvest, we shovel it out, abandoning windfalls
to compost the ground, around a gaping cavity.

Repositioned by the wishing well, we pamper it, hope
sap will course through veins again and the chasm left

will not be needed very soon. In February’s gloom, we wait
for the man trapped in traffic, carrying a mercy-potion.

It takes seconds. Max is swallowed by the void as soil
shrouds him. We replant nearby bulbs, in memoriam.

I first perceived Max in a dream-chase, the tabby scurries
from Sheba’s umbrageous grave. Now he rests beside her.

Today, seedtime rays and drizzle foster apple blossoms
to unfurl; narcissi gently waver where heads once bowed.


---------------------------------------
St2 was
in solar warmth; arms grasp us as we grapple passed.

[JustDaniel]

Dear Eira...

I've hesitated to comment because of the subject matter. I'm clear that Sheba and Max are your deceased pets and that Sheba seems to have predeceased Max, but I'm unclear about the digging, leaving a hole, filling one of them so long after... and what the 'mercy-potion' might be. Please forgive my ignorance. Also wondering if last word of S2L2 is "past".

So sorry for your loss, my friend.

Larry, you've again written a beautiful and almost flawless sonnet. I'd only ask you to consider something like
'chasm' to replace your otherwise accurate word 'void' at the end of S2L5.

deLighting in both of you, Daniel