Friday afternoon

They'll be having tea

in small porceline cups

with a pattern of roses

and gold on the edges

the scent of ripe strawberries

in the air

the trees have changed their clothing

the other day she saw a couple

the man tried holding the woman's hand

she stared ahead like a traveller on a train

not ashamed to take notes

to watch couples

like one would watch a bath fill with water

how much before it is full

before it spills over the carpet

with the pattern of a fish?

Last night a dream

that she was the one inside

looking out

invitations to social events

kept coming at her

like the cards at Alice in Wonderland

the other woman went away

dressed in a red sleeveless dress

standing in the bus station

sad she was not able to see the queen.

She still held him by some invisible strings

the yelling, the forces of family ties

held him in place

behind the door

his feet cemented to the floor

the other woman boarded her bus

wiping away tears of disappointments

and she was the one

in the center of a storm

and not a twig flying away

anymore.

She woke up with a hunger

for the cheesecake

her mother used to make

as spring slipped away,

she could taste the buttery bread crumbs

the soft cushion of cheese upon her tongue

life felt sweet

until she noticed

it was but a dream

and the light will penetrate the room

like a needle

with truth serum

time will never go back

it will go forward

dragging her dreams

like a truck running over

the soft body of a lost animal

caught under the wheels

of a powerful vehicle

she could not drive.