Damselfly*

Damselfly by Lori Ballard

Paused on the underside,

the damselfly folds her wings across her back

like two matched slivers of isinglass.

Her body, thin as a thorn,

flits by in sepia tone.

She pins her wish to the ridges of a leaf,

then flickers along the edge of a pond,

the night-green mirror of her fairy life.

Her sorrows are wind and a stream gone dry;

she lets herself be blown from sight.

In late day sun, when her wings glint like tears,

she darns the torn hopes of the hyacinth.

*Inspired by the photograph