Take this city, If it should be your will, what no man can own, no man can take.

Take this heart

Take this heart

Take this heart

And make it break.

-How to dismantle an atomic bomb, U2

CORE OF THIS APPLE

Rain tip-tapped on the roof. The gray, overcast sky hung down low like the belly of the beast. A flash of lightning lit the sky for a second. Leaves flittered to the pavement like fallen angels. My fingers closed around the sakura blossom I was holding in my hand, crumpling the useless thing. Useless things littered the earth, dirtying and blemishing it.

A sakura blossom. It marked my sadness, my pain, reminding me of memories I shouldn't be reminded of. The memories blinded me, blinded me from seeing the qualities of life, if there were any. The rain blinded me from seeing the light in life. I blinded myself from seeing love.

The sakura blossom fluttered to the ground. I felt a lone tear trek down my dirty cheek. I put on my tough exterior, my impassive face, and walked down my porch steps. I didn't bother with putting a jacket or poncho on…it mattered not to me.

I walked down the lonely road to town, alone and cold.

In memory of my lovely Grandfather, Orval Crowell.