The Cherry Blossom Festival

Lyrics

[Intro]
Late March.
The air finally decides to be kind.
Keswick Park, holding its breath.

[Verse 1]
These trees are guests.
A gift from a sister city, a careful diplomatic note written in wood and root.
Shipped here, planted in DeKalb clay.
And every year they forget their manners.
They throw this... quiet riot.
A sudden, shocking pink against the Georgia pine.
Petals like snow in a warm wind.

[Chorus]
And we all come out to stand under it.
The whole town, it seems.
On blankets, in folding chairs.
Breathing in the scent of blossoms and funnel cake from a truck with a generator hum.
For one weekend, the sky is just this impossible color.

[Verse 2]
The kid races start at two.
Little sneakers on the big lawn, a finish line of crepe paper.
They run over grass that grows thick and soft.
Covering the ghost of a footprint.
Covering the concrete footings from 1917.
The old barracks of Camp Gordon, still down there.
Holding the parade ground level for the picnics.

[Chorus]
And we all come out to stand under it.
The whole town, on blankets.
Breathing in the scent of blossoms and carne asada from a truck with a line down the path.
For one weekend, the sky is just this impossible color.

[Bridge]
The branches don't remember the soldiers.
They don't know a thing about the war.
They just know the light and the water table.
They drop their petals on the old foundations and the new playground with equal grace.
A quiet treaty.
Signed in flowers. As if it were that easy.
Well. Maybe it is.

[Outro]
The light gets long and gold.
They pack up the sound system.
The last paper plates go into the bin.
And the petals keep falling in the dusk.
On the car hoods, on our shoulders.
A soft, pink dust settling over everything.
A promise.
For next year.