The Day Alan Didn'T Come
This old apartment over 60 years old
The narrow parking lot at the back
is always messy:
scattered pebbles,
brawny weed,
broken pieces of flower,
Mulberry fruits that have fallen to the ground
and have been crushed,
fallen leaves,
And Alan's old friend,
there was an old tree
A tree has no name,
the bark is all peeled off
Few living tree branches,
All sorts of scars and filth in the stem
stinks but
Alan loves this old friend: everyone hates
From a very young age
He climbed this tree, played, and ate the fruit
his own heart that had hugged it
he used to show it with a smile
Even in the big typhoon that hit
New Jersey a few years ago,
that is not broken but
In the weak wind that blew lately
One of the three remaining
broke and fell to the ground
wrecked upstairs luxury car
Alan made up his mind
And a truck to cut down trees today
People came late in the afternoon.
I went out
parked the car in the parking lot
in the night
And looking at the disappeared tree,
the barely remaining stump
I took a picture and sent it to Alan
even if it's a small thing
from Brooklyn, New York to here in New Jersey
ran to this place
Alan did not come
he only sent emoticon that shed tears
The old tree presented us
with a clean and widened parking lot.
Getting out of the car,
my wife told me,
"We won't be able to hear the birdsong
in the morning anymore".
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