LATE SPRING

Campbell McGrath

The kingdom of perception is pure emptiness
- Po Chü-i


I have faltered in my appointed duty.
It is a small sacrilege, a minor heresy.

The nature of the duty is close attention
to the ivy and its tracery on riled brick,

the buckled sidewalk, the optimistic fern,
downed lilacs brown as coffee grounds,

little twirled seedwings falling by the thousands
from the maples in May wind,

and the leaves themselves
daily greener in ripening sunlight.

To whom is their offering rendered,
and from whom derived,

these fallen things
urging their bodies upon the pavement?

There is a true name for them,
a proper term, but what is it?

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Source: Poetry Foundation. Image: © N/A; Pinterest
AWIP: http://www.a-w-i-p.com/index.php/poetry/2024/05/07/late-spring