Outside, two monarchs
Outside, two monarchs hitch on wings of leaded glass. The sky tilts its dome of blue-dipped marble. A day like a ripe peach in a high-walled garden. Wall of my own making. All my life, I’ve been avoiding pain. Through the screen, the Wedding Hydrangeas nod their lacy caps, their scalloped hems all aflutter. What illusions I’ve coasted in on. Pain avoided returns as deeper pain. You’d think I would have learned— Wasn’t I, a bride, smiling in my white netting, wreath of pearls, happy because I was determined to be.