Walnut Tree

I grew up in a bean-soup house, with cornbread breath,
but in the backyard was a secret home that only I
could see, a sumptuous palace, a shining
villa of my imagination. It was a weathered wooden
crate beside a walnut tree, banked by honeysuckle
and flanked by a sedge-grass field. And I loved the
walnuts, and the swing my father made and hung
from the lowest branch of the tree. I was safe there,
and angels winked from every leaf. Remember,
how little happiness costs, how free is love.