TheBanyanTree: ZEPHYR

[smack58 at nycap.rr.com]

Dug this out and did a little fine tuning.  It's an old one I did for a poetry site some time ago for a word challenge.

ZEPHYR
 
I push the window up.
It barely moves at first
revealing only a small crack,
barely visible 
above the scarred sill.
I push the window harder
and feel the swollen, old wood 
give in at last.
 
I feel its reluctance
for it has been untouched,
unmoved, uncared for,
for so many years now.
 
The ancient dark green,
cracked paint 
splinters
into my hands, 
and I shake the pieces away 
only to find
that they are stuck
to the sweat of my palm.
 
To the top of the frame
I push the pane. 
The window opening
wide at last,
finally 
allowing
the soft smooth air 
of a summer's night brush
across my face and
move softly into my hair.
 
Cooling, curling,
emptying the room 
of old gray smells.
Its touch on my neck,
on my heated breast,
is soothing as it
dries and lifts
the accumulated sweat
of a long hot summer's day.
 
 
© Sharon Mack 2005