The Petals

Mercy arrives in strange forms

The impact was sudden.

Immediate.

The five dozen roses she carried
lifted into the air.

Somehow,
every stem released its bloom.

For a moment
the street disappeared behind red.

Petals caught the wind,
drifting upward
before settling slowly back to earth.

The shocked onlookers stood frozen.

The petals continued to fall.

Softly.

Patiently.

Until all that remained
was hidden beneath them.

Years later,

the witnesses would disagree
about almost everything.

The sound.

The weather.

The color of her coat.

But every one of them
remembered the roses.

And how beautiful
the world had been
for a single terrible moment.