Making beauty, and throwing it away, and making more

...Last night I dreamed of X again.
She’s like a stain on my subconscious sheets.  
Years ago she penetrated me
but though I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed,  
I never got her out,
but now I’m glad.

What I thought was an end turned out to be a middle.  
What I thought was a brick wall turned out to be a tunnel.  
What I thought was an injustice
turned out to be a color of the sky.

Outside the youth center, between the liquor store
and the police station,
a little dogwood tree is losing its mind;

overflowing with blossomfoam,
like a sudsy mug of beer;
like a bride ripping off her clothes,

dropping snow white petals to the ground in clouds,

so Nature’s wastefulness seems quietly obscene.
It’s been doing that all week:
making beauty,
and throwing it away,
and making more.

Tony Hoagland, from 'A Color of the Sky'.

The complete poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/42595

Welcoming February: https://picasaweb.google.com/106491954401233999557/WelcomingFebruary