Street Tree

by Mark Belair

A hose curls lazily
on a damp sidewalk, water

pooled in sidewalk seams
to make toy streams,

cement—reeking in the wake
of a heavy hosing—cracked

by roots recruiting
water for passage

up a tree trunk’s hard
darkness, darkness

that—water-softened—
butterfly-twirls

itself into
delicate white buds