At the Onset, by Karen Neuberg

Garden of Love, by Remedios Varo (Spain) 1951

​At the Onset

I came through a labyrinth of hallways, the ones you might discern by looking though my door, I came to the window because he was there, this flourish of a being. I’d been in a great stillness and was rearranging the solar system on my table when I heard a trio of cardinals whistling my name. And now I stand at my window, slightly leaning out, my hand beginning to reach, as I wait for time to move. He wants to ask me. He wants to tell me. And I the same. To say to him I’ve waited. But wait! Have I? What truth to tell? What truth to make? I like the stillness of my rooms. My quiet floors. The trees around my house singing love songs to me when breezes stir their leaves. Will there be a great transformation or is it all just expectation? He is about to take my hand. To give his heart. Or is he? Will he? Does he? The red birds flit around in impatient anticipation.

Karen Neuberg

Karen Neuberg is the author of the full-length poetry collection, PURSUIT (Kelsay Press) and three chapbooks including the elephants are asking (Glass Lyre) Her poetry has appeared in The Ekphrastic Review, Inflectionist Review, Unbroken, Unlikely Stories, Verse Daily, and elsewhere. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, NY.