On either side
of these neighborhood streets,
the once rag-and-bone
branches of trees
are now growing long
and brawny with spring rain;
soon enough, the tips
of their fingers may grow
to touch over the center of these roads,
forming a thick dome
over the homes and apartments below—
so much the better to cradle and hold
the fragile expectations
of all those who dwell there,
to protect such heretofore
unexampled frustrations, to keep
such extraordinary solitude from escaping
or being exposed.