april leaving

April Leaving

The morning bus isn’t full, mostly housewives
going shopping and the elderly who never had
a car, I’m leaving the valley for good, a bag,
and laptop need no more, always rented, best
this way, property is just another mulish burden.
Warm spring rain, mist rises from asphalt, afar
I see the sea, in half an hour we will be there,
the ocean looks like a shiny steel band keeping
the land intact. Five years, I’ve been living in
the valley, know every stick and stone, stayed
too long, though, I will miss the dried up river,
crippled olive trees, the meager, rusty soil and
the almond tree that deliriously strews beautiful
flowers on cold February ground.