We planted those birches outside the gate the week you were born
They were beautiful in summer as we sat on the deck
Waiting for the Vidalias to caramelize on the grill
We watched you climb atop your playhouse
To leap from its pink roof into the silver shade of dusk
They were beautiful in autumn as you stood on the deck
Of the neighborhood Olympic pool lips blue
Mummy-wrapped in towels
Waving goodbye to summer vacation
And they were beautiful in winter
As our breath billowed against the French doors to the backyard
You tapped your little fists along the hoary glass
To make dimpled footprints on the panes
Those souvenirs are long gone and your father too
But the birches are still beautiful in spring
With their hopeful rosaries of green
Outside the gate of the house where you were born

Marianne Tefft is a poet and voiceover reader who daylights as a Montessori teacher in Sint Maarten. Her poems appear online and in print in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Serbia, India, Sint Maarten and the Dominican Republic. She is the author of the 2022 poetry collections Full Moon Fire: Spoken Songs of Love and Moonchild: Poems for Moon Lovers.