O Hepatica, when will you beckon
to awaken me from Winter’s lull?
I implore you to quickly usurp her
ere her lingering rounds my lobes dull.
–
Sweet Anemone, wait not a second
to emerge from your ashen abode;
for I’ve already faded to torpor
and my cognizance starts to corrode.
–
Dear ephemeral sprite, do you reckon
I’ll escape her in spite of the cold?
For I rue that she holds me in stupor
but your blossom wood get me paroled.
Your brutal ways are cloaked in ‘luring form.
Mascara: coy, yet fearsome facial flair.
With grace you sit, aloof above my dorm,
indiff’rent if I even know you’re there.
You could descend upon me any day
and I would scarcely have a chance to flee;
or you might choose to flirt with other prey
and nary give another thought of me.
Then suddenly I scurry to my hole,
and see that you’ve impaled some other soul.
These golden shackles I wear:
heavy and tight,
but they pay my dues.
They’re outdated and tarnished
but they still have use.
These golden shackles I wear:
rusted iron,
are well past their prime.
They are owned by another,
and yet they are mine.
These golden shackles I wear,
which I hold the key.
I could unlock them right now
but wouldn’t be free.
I found you in the depths of thick terrain.
I guessed you were a beauty, winsome, fair.
But lo, too young; your stem was budded plain,
the climax of your figure wasn’t there.
I trusted you would blossom in a week,
but I had doubt I could return by then.
And I expected I would miss your peak
if I could even find you once again.
Your basal leaf gave hint to who you were:
a freckled maiden, delicate and white.
Yet without face, I could not be so sure;
Thus left uncertain, here I sigh, contrite.
And so I kiss my hope to see you ‘bye
unless I find you blooming next July.
Published in Spring Thaw Spring 2021 Itasca Community College
To merely know your name is all I long,
to see your face and figure, if you please.
Oh how you tease to offer just one song
ere ghosting me with silence in the trees.
I heard you sing but once, your melody.
‘Twas not enough to fathom who you are.
I squint and strain my eyes, in hope to see;
but woods are thick and you have gone too far.
How long should I pursue you through the mire
and yearn to catch your beauty in a glimpse?
How far can I give chase before I tire,
when fervent march gives way to aching limps?
Alas, with vestige of your presence gone,
my memory not knowing you lives on.
I planted a seed.
I assumed to have claim
to the fruit, to the plant
of that seed I had lain;
but it wasn’t to be so.
The seed I had sown
was a plant of its own
and my part in its life
it had quickly outgrown.
So let it be so.
For the plant was never mine.
I was just a sower of a seed,
and I guess… that is fine.
I will find satisfaction
in watching the prose.
I’ll watch it gain traction,
bear fruit and feed those
who don’t know
that I planted the seed,
that seed that still grows;
and I’m happy I planted that seed
…even if…
nobody knows.
When sinking into a bleak sheol
and seeking a torch to stay night’s wrath,
electric light is the prudent pick;
but given a choice…
Refuse the switch, and ignite a wick;
for though bulbs are best to show your path,
a flickering flame will warm your soul.
Published in Spring Thaw Spring 2021 Itasca Community College
The flames have dwindled down to logy coal.
Aye, my roaring stove has been exhausted.
It kindled warmth, with passion sang its soul;
then in frigid darkness – somehow lost it.
Hours ago, the hottest I remember,
I felt it toast my face and proof my core.
Now it crumbles cold to crusted ember,
and long is night to go on empty store.
I try to stoke it, feed the famished fire,
but every piece I pile only smothers.
The birch, the oak, and all that I desire
overwhelm the remnants like the others.
It seems the only hope to stave its death
is twig the grounds that glow and give them breath.
Published in Inkwell Spring 2021 Bethany Lutheran College
I hiked deep into woods | while breaking virgin snow.
I saw some tracks pass through | they appeared to be fresh.
The hooves of a large stag| wandered into the brush
So I veered from my path | curious where they’d go.
They meandered around oaks | and no hurry was had,
but then I saw the tracks | suddenly had more space.
I guessed the deer had heard | my presence in his place
and so by leaps and bounds | the buck jumped from his pad.
Hoping to catch a glimpse, | quietly I pressed on.
I would peer through the trees | as I reached a hill’s crest,
but all I’d see was tracks; | he’d left me in his dust
for every time I’d look | he was already gone.
I knew not where I was, | though lost and on a roam;
I seemed to know this place. | I had seen it before.
Then looking up the hill, | I saw the roof next door.
Though I never found the deer,| I’m glad he brought me home.
Think upon a maple in November:
Just standing dormant, drab in shades of gray.
It had color, scarcely I remember;
When first its spectrum faded, I can’t say.
Recalling vernal days when blooming bells
rang hope for verdant clouds to fill the wood.
Then later raised to glow when autumn fell,
the acer blazed in glory where it stood.
‘Til the wind and rain stripped off its vigor;
its impetus now lifeless on the ground.
Fallen, leaves it barely stand in rigor,
and yet suppose there might be promise found.
For in dregs of winter it will offer
sweet returns that spring from hidden coffer.
Published in Inkwell Spring 2020 Bethany Lutheran College
ArtesianMind 