Pools of petals

A week or two ago I pointed out the flowering trees to the Spanish teacher at church.  It had rained and the dropping petals were beginning to form  fairy circles under the trees.  Isn*t it pretty?  I said.  

It*s so sad, she said, so very sad.

The mulberry peonies

Only in bud on Mother*s Day

Are full out now.

The petals drop

One or two or three an hour.

We just came home from church.

The table holds

A purple-red pool

Of petals.

We must have been gone

Longer than I thought.

It is a week

Of dropping petals.

The woman who teaches Spanish

At church,

When petals began to drop

From the trees:

The pear

The apple

The dogwood,

The woman said

Isn*t it sad?

Isn*t it so sad?

At the exact same time

I notice pink and white pools

Of petals.

I notice we see

Different things.