Daphne in a Stand of Laurels ~ Michael Homolka

 

 

I too am composed
of smokelike particles

 the cyclical soreness
of heath and earth   cloudless bark

blinking against
the tips of the sky

I can’t quite pry my way inside
the lawns’ chlorophyll light

or surrender to activity
entirely unsymbolic

As for leaf milk   eternal nature
my own green murmurs

infinitely out of
synch with themselves

I too might leap from my future
from bare knuckle

branches and unbroken
pigment   For the sake

of my family   please
let no hint of universality enter

Only allow my essence
to whisper into your rings

once that it was here
and once that it was not