Ephemeral

I breathed you in
with cherry blossoms,
a too-short spring:
warmwet newness
and laughter bouncing
high and fast and
gone.

I sang you out into the night
among silver stars and moonlight
and you flickered and
faded
at the first sign of dawn.

I dreamed you
in a wisp of smoke and ash,
and the weight of it
fell down around my feet,
crushed in the trudging
everyday drum song.