When the oak branch scratches the roof,
It sounds like breathing,
When a window is opened in a stuffy room,
The breeze that enters is a kitten’s kiss in a dream.
Late in the afternoon,
When we look far in the distance
And see the eucalyptus swaying
Like signals of smoke,
We must not be surprised
When we feel the wing tip,
The urgent caress of the feather
On our shoulder.
Like Mary, we must be ready with our answer
When the angel descends.
Rose Anna Higashi’s poetry journal, Blue Wings, was published by Paulist Press, and her novel, The Learning Wars, is available from iUniverse. Her poems have appeared recently in Americamedia.org., The Catholic Poetry Room, Agape Review, Poets Online, The Avocet, The Ekphrastic Review, and The Scarlet Dragonfly Journal. Many of her lyric poems and haiku appear on her website, myteaplanner.com. Rose Anna is a retired professor of Literature who had a second career as a lay ecclesial minister in the Catholic Diocese of San Jose. She now lives in rural Hawaii with Wayne, her husband of sixty years.