Frame Rate

The grove of cherry trees is still,
and suffused with a warm, pink light.
A sighing of the air stirs the flowered boughs,
causing a light snowfall of blossoms
to drift lazily down between the dark trunks.

STOP. REVERSE IN 500-FRAME SKIPS. AND... HOLD.
NOW FORWARD, FRAME BY FRAME... AND STOP.
SET KEY FRAME 'A' AT... 03196.
QUEUE AT 50X SPEED. PLAY.

Cycles of day and night wash over the trees:
first the bright, scudding foam,
and then the plankton-flecked cobalt depths.
The branches cautiously unfold their pink tendrils,
like anemones, coaxed open by the rising tide.

STOP. SET KEY FRAME 'B' AT... 08441.
REVERSE TO KEY FRAME 'A'.
SHOW LEVELS HISTOGRAM. HMMM...
QUEUE AT 300X SPEED. SET PANNING LOOP. PLAY.

The sky strobes uncontrollably,
cowering under the fire of tracer bullet suns
as the trees burst and retract their blooms
in a pulsing rhythm, like hearts
now wounded, now healed.