End of April

~Phillis Levin~
Under a cherry tree I found a robin’s egg,broken, but not shattered.
I had been thinking of you,and was kneeling in the grass among fallen blossoms
when I saw it: a blue scrap,a delicate toy, as light as confetti
It didn’t seem real,but nature will do such things from time to time.
I looked inside:it was glistening, hollow,a perfect shell
except for the missing crown,which made it possible to look inside.
What had been there is gone now and lives in my heart
where, periodically,it opens up its wings,tearing me apart.