Sanctuary
by Cynthia Villafranca
Sunlight streams through the leaves.
Shadows lengthen,
but the boy hardly notices.
High up in the tree,
his finger spears the page
trying to capture letters,
words,
sentences.
Only the leaves hear him
as he stumbles,
fumbles,
mumbles the lines.
It is an everyday struggle,
here, in his sanctuary;
struggling to read
high up these guava branches.
