Flirtation by Peggy Hammond
This black sky scattered
with bright stars,
ink-dark carpet glittering
with unstrung pearls,
says nothing as moonlight,
a maiden trailing white silk,
touches Earth, glides down
apple orchard’s narrow row.
Gnarled mothers burdened
with green fruit now flushing golden
allow the brush of moonbeams
along twisted branches,
knowing this temporary flirtation
will one day distill
to pure memory,
essential as water and air.
Peggy Hammond’s poetry is featured or forthcoming in The Lyricist, Oberon Poetry, High Shelf Press, San Antonio Review, Inklette, West Trade Review, Rogue Agent, and Ginosko Literary Journal. Her full-length stage play A Little Bit of Destiny was produced by OdysseyStage Theatre in Durham, North Carolina.