To the Gardener

1. Flower & Fervency

     At the end of a long half-s-curved stem

                                                     the fluted house-light:             

     —question cast house-ward:

                                                     shadowed clapboard: a

                                                                                      diffusing loosening lily

                                                     striking the eaves—

                                                               angling origamically—

     —unfolding nothing.

2.  Exfoliant

       I said of my life—departed from yours:

                I had no hand in it—  our separation

       was beyond purview. I see now this:

               my life is where my life is writing;

       what surface fails exposure  —fails;

               and all the leaves left undeveloped

       bode one death my life won’t bear.

                Love, the bind was bound to break—

Coda: Resurrection Lily

       The bulb overwintered feeds—

              each spring—a fountain of palms.

       By July: all green gone—only emptiness

              bespeaks what is to come:

       the fall stalk swiftly surrendering

              an inflorescence of pale pink

        —a whiff of which unfolds me.