window sill will

window sill will
when i was very young my mother
kept a jade plant that was at least
half my size, on a double-hung sill
looking out on the backyard..
i would often idling stare through
its prone unfurled succulence
to view sky.

once, when the sun was just about
as bright as i had ever seen through jade,
Sunshine On My Shoulders on the radio
played.
even my parakeet Tweety whistled!
at the end of that year, my preschool
teacher told us about God and His will.
then came the darkest morning i had
ever viewed, it laid beyond an unsettling maze-
map of stars & whorls etched on the glass pane.
"that's Jack Frost,"
my mother explained, with authority.