We're waiting in between
The frost is hanging on in the shape of a tree
White where the morning sun can't reach
On grass that once grew green
But has no say in how rich its pigment will be
My nervous vanity's been slow
To see
The coyote's coat looks like her home
In the dusty leaves
I always shared a fear
With the sawtooth agave who blossoms and then disappears
Til I got a taste of what I'd be
If all of this light
Hadn't fallen so easy around me
Now the violet hands of the May jacarandas are blossoming
There were days that I may not have made it if they weren't lining Granada street
Every spring they recover the colors in me
I am starting to notice their bark through the dark winter weeks
Making me learn them patiently
And deep
Like anything I've ever believed
I've known since my swollen mirror broke skin that even my best merits wait dormant for someone to draw them out of me
And though I was so sure
Which virtues I have earned
The dry rainshadow knows I'll learn those lines are blurred