Cécile McLorin Salvant
Dead Poplar
You, I
What we have been to each other
What we are to each other
What we've done to each other
What we do to each other
The relationship of all that to others

I didn’t brood, had no resentments
Had no hard feelings, I was not sorry for myself
I merely tried to see
As clearly as it is possible for me to see

Then I got up and watched the grasses
With the raindrops and the dead poplar
Illuminated by the early sun
And against a very dark sky