Gangster’s Gift*

Before its leaves return in April’s sun,
the cherry tree flees the winter’s thuglike grip
with blossoms breaking from branches bare.
Was Al Capone aware that beauty springs
like this, unbidden, from naked bark when he
gave cherry trees in gratitude to weep
before the hospital that had agreed
to treat his curse of Venus, residual
remuneration from early gangster days
as brothel bouncer in old Chicago Town.
One tree remains, and every April now
this seasoned moll on a Baltimore street
joyously vamps her coy pink hair to the ground.

Was this gift his feeble shot at goodness?
Or did Capone’s decaying brain forget
he ordered massacres in lieu of roses
to celebrate the yearly feast of love?
Perhaps, recumbent now in his deep, big sleep,
he dreams of galaxies of rosy blooms
that briefly flirt with air, then petals fall,
implanting stars of blushing pink to feed
with constellations of rotted grace
the bloodstream of a forgiving earth.

My questions, too, are shaken to the ground,
and quiver from the strain of evil mixed with good.
But when this April’s sun enshrouds the chill,
a blessed moment comes, and I forget to think
as beauty stuns from being’s leafless stem.

-Kitty Yanson

* Al Capone was paroled from Alcatraz to receive treatment for his advanced neurosyphilis. First, he sought out Hopkins that was well-known for advances in this area. However, they did not take him on because of Capone’s notoriety. Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore did treat him, and in gratitude, Capone gave the hospital two weeping cherry trees. One has survived and blooms every year in April on 33rd Street at the hospital’s former entrance.