The Wait Won’t Be Long

Sometimes, in boisterous play, the two children scuff the Garden’s soil, exposing floorboards and joists. Sometimes, on a wander through woods, they happen on paths too straight to be creature-made.

All day, the great tree shadows their questions. It sprouts from the center of a vast circumference. Its branches hang low with heavy fruit. Its height rockets toward a noontime zenith. Light as papier-mâché, it lofts well beyond sight.

Timber and starlight, sugar and clay: how long can such a confection last?

Lock children away in a room with a cake. Before closing the door, tell them no, don’t eat a crumb.

Walk away.

The wait won’t be long.

Tom Laichas‘s recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in Ambit, 3.1 Venice, Masque and Spectacle, Panoply, Eclectica, and elsewhere. His first collection is due out from High Window Press (UK) in 2020.