Magnolia Tree

Don’t feel like making my bed this morning

Bubblegum linens balled up in a mess

Use tiny nails to tear purple pillow open

And a feather flurry pirouettes above me

Hunt for the quills, gather one at a time

There’s no better place to go than up

Bundle feathers together, bind them up

Duct tape swiped from dad yesterday morning

Just pray it’s not like last time

When he found his toolbox a rummaged mess

Broke mom into shards right in front of me

Insisted I pry my guilty eyes open

Lay my craft on the carpet, out in the open

Glue a feather here, another there to fix it up

Something warm begins to pulsate within me

Like the golden glow of growing morning

Strewn scraps of bedding have left a mess

Yet my mind is uncluttered for the first time

Eye the princess alarm clock, confirm the time

Just an hour before the school is open

Wrap my small frame in the big fluffy mess

Check the bedazzled mirror to size myself up

Dad left for work early this morning

And if mom were here, she wouldn’t stop me

A set of makeshift wings fastened to me

Bus may chug down the street in no time

Sneaking out the window, I smell morning

The magnolia tree stands tall, arms open

Inhale the honeysuckle air and look up

Clouds paint the sky a wonderful mess

Mom always said she loved my mess

My playground mind the best part of me

Birds and I sing out to her, she lifts me up

When afloat, there is no such thing as time

Twirling through sky with limbs spread open

At last, I have come to accept morning

Sun a mess of embers a trillion times my size

Befriends me, opens herself for me to slip in

And I don’t mind waking up tomorrow morning.