Flowers 1

Flowers 1

I do not think of flowers much,

 they pass me by. Remind me why

for you they carry love and life,

the children’s fragile daisy chains,

the golden butter test beneath the chin,

half-laughed-off fears of wetting beds;

your widow’s memories and grief,

vast drifts of poppies; each a tear.

 

Such names!

lady’s mantle, smock and slipper-

lady’s tresses, ladies bedstraw-

love-in-a-mist, then love-lies-bleeding-

hemlock and enchanters nightshade-

hog-weed, mousewort,mares tail-

cow-bane, catch-fly, toadflax-

there’s sickness, healing, witchcraft-

poetry and music, joy, eternal sadness-

and yet I do not think of flowers much:

they pass me by.

Joe Stephenson