Max Reif’s most recent poem to appear here was “A Poet’s Apology to Words” (April 2017)

The Impermanence of Spring
By Max Reif

This is the place!
Only last week here,
all barriers were down
and Heaven surged
directly into this world,
laying bare
God’s every secret!

Here, beside this hill,
hundreds of pink ballet dancers
stood poised upon these branches,
pirouetting and leaping in the breeze!

Or was it a bride with dancers
embroidered on her gown,
a bride embraced by
that lover right over there,
sporting his new Gold Suit
the color of First Light?

Already the dancers
are gone from the branches
and the leaves remaining
resemble only ash,

while the nearby lover
has changed into
his work suit of drab
midsummer-green.

My eyes strain
to find where
the Opening was,
incredulous that Nature
can so quickly divest
her bride and groom,

leaving no memento
of their recent glory.