Cherry Blossoms

How many times have we stood here before?

I was tracing the ice gray of a pillar that was on its last legs,

Casually looking to the bare sakura trees and then to you,

You brushed snow from the tuft of hair that poked out awkwardly beneath

A scarf wrapped around my face.

It felt so right,

In that moment,

That we should have kissed, gentle lips upon blushing cheeks.

Yet, we did not.

We only longingly stared as if knowing the time wasn’t quite ripe.

How often I had dreamed of you tonight,

Body buzzing from a fading yet unmistakably soothing embrace.

I had mistakenly believed in past regrets,

Not realizing until you had gone and I was the last one standing,

That we would meet under the pillar again.

Instead of a cold and dead winter that found us unprepared,

We’d find solace in the warmth of spring upon melting snow

On the fresh sakura branches you were so fond of.