Thursday, April 10, 2014

Poems from Grief


Recovery

I have been crushed 
   to pieces
and put back together
   piece by piece.
The glue is not dry yet.
Fragile.
Handle with care.
My reconstruction has new form:
   Spaces
that before did not exist.
The wind blows through them,
   a disconcerting chill.
But I will grow accustomed to it.
My spaces are triangular now.
   Strong.





Melancholy

The earth has been dormant and grey
and after
not too long
   it will heat up and dry out
   and the green will thirst for life
      and refreshment.
But just now
the bare branches
are suddenly bursting
   with bright green newness.

Barely surviving mysteries
   in planters
   are tall and colorful and fragrant.
My favorite blossoms never last long.
Red tulips open and open and open
   til petals fall
   --like a brief gasoline blaze.
Sunlight-yellow forsythia
   shone all over like Moses' burning bush
   yesterday
      but are now just leaves.
Hyacinth that defy frost and snow
   with their aroma,
   the perfume of restoration and beginnings
      droop after rain, withering.

Why can it not last?
   the time before biting insects
   and smothering humidity
   and blistering noontides?
The fresh green
   gives way to parched--
   to thorns
   and crisp, brown 
      formerly living leaves.

And why must I know this?

There was a time
that the red tulips bloomed 
and it was enough.
   Enough to be there.
The fading would come
   but it was not present.
      It did not invade the light,
      Spring's bright pallet,
With Melancholy.


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