Ephemera: Trout Lily

Upon the day

you

live

along with the ephemera

in your dark and glooming wood

that you brighten

In the gloaming

your stem slenderly arched in a “U” of uncertainty

of unearthly

transient petals peeled back

as if

afraid to show the world your abundance

which will last a day

Only a day

and facing down from where you came

Down into the rich nurturing loam

as you

fall

and

break

and

die

but did it ever even matter?

that you never saw the sanct sun

or

the trees cloaked in a mossy green

or

your livid petals floating off and into

the hair of some child laughing and spinning

in the air

Lips stained with strawberries

that you will never know

but

did it ever matter?

Did you ever matter?

*Published in “The Pen” (Pittsburgh, PA)

* Published in the 2011 Diverse Youth Anthology ( International Poetry Festival in Austin, TX)