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Birch Trees

I clutch at the magazines,
the letters, the newspaper cutouts 
I look through your old notebooks
tracing over rows and rows of numbers 
a library catalog, a stamp
l’m looking for something more personal 
something that could make me feel you again 

there are birch trees everywhere you look 
I missed them, I longed for them
almost as much as I longed for the time 
when you would hug me, pat me on the head 
and call me by a new name 
every time I saw you it would be something different 

it’s been years, but I only just became ready 
to take this step, to forgive and forget 
I prayed you get relief and you got it
but now I understand why they wanted to keep you for a little longer 
why they wouldn’t let you go 

I stare at the birch tree, right next to your old apartment building 
and wonder if you would stare at it too 
you probably didn’t, you didn’t care for them like I do
you’d just pass by and get home to your books 
the books that lay in my room now
the books I grab, I flip through 
in hopes of proving that you had once existed 
that you weren’t just writing on a page

Copyright © | Year Posted 2023




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Date: 8/6/2023 5:08:00 PM
Hi March Zee, memories exposed, hold them close and write them down for others to read. Thank you for sharing.
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Date: 7/19/2023 7:08:00 AM
Thanks for sharing this... exposing your thoughts about birch trees through your unique poetic style. Welcome to Poetry Soup. I welcome you with the love of the Lord, expressed by John 3:16 of the Bible, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Be blessed.
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