With her fingers she turns paint br into flowers, with her body br flowers into a remembrance br of herself. She is at work br always, mending the garment br of our marriage, foraging br like a bird for something br for us to eat. If there are thorns br in my life, it is she who br will press her breast to them and sing. br br Her words, when she would scold, br are too sharp. She is busy br after for hours rubbing smiles br into the wounds. I saw her, br when young, and spread the panoply br of my feathers instinctively br to engage her. She was not deceived, br but accepted me as a girl br will under a thin moon br in love's absence as someone br she could build a home with br for her imagined child.