I Watched Her

in a tree house near

the stream, she sweated 

rolling the backs of her

bare legs into the sun

and cooling her rich hair

in the shadows 

where the rest of her 

body fell didn't matter 

if anyone saw

she would call them 

close beneath her and the tree

where only her ankles

could be seen and the bottoms of 

her feet rubbing over the edge 

she thought she was alone

and so I watched her

sometimes she'd rise 

to be a fairy queen 

stretched to rule the wood

with a sheet over her back

she shed the white gown

to dance with branches groaning 

she waved a bunch of leaves

over the forest toward the trees

then she'd take to knees

drop to her front to sleep

sweetly over the edge 

I climbed her tree to peek 

but I felt sneaky

she thought she was alone

and so, I watched her 

like a cat who brushed below her skirt

and disappeared before

she could lift it up to see

what she was feeling 

I hid there

until summer days were evenings

under the branches of her tree

it was only me

looking over the edge 

she thought she was alone and so 

I watched her.