Just look—nothing but sincerity
as far as the eye can see—
the way the changed leaves,
flapping their yellow underbellies
in the wind, glitter. The tree
looks sequined wherever
the sun touches. Does anyone
not see it? Driving by a field
of spray-painted sheep, I think
the world is not all changed.
The air still ruffles wool
the way a mother’s hand
busies itself lovingly in the hair
of her small boy. The sun
lifts itself up, grows heavy
treading there, then lets itself
off the hook. Just look at it
leaving—the sky a tigereye
banded five kinds of gold
and bronze—and the sequin tree
shaking its spangles like a girl
on the high school drill team,
nothing but sincerity. It glitters
whether we’re looking or not.
Copyright © 2018 Maggie Smith. Used with permission of the author. This poem originally appeared in The Southern Review, Summer 2018.