It Is a Small Plant

It is a small plant	
delicately branched and	
tapering conically	
to a point, each branch	
and the peak a wire for	        
green pods, blind lanterns	
starting upward from	
the stalk each way to	
a pair of prickly edged blue	
flowerets: it is her regard,	        
a little plant without leaves,	
a finished thing guarding	
its secret. Blue eyes—	
but there are twenty looks	
in one, alike as forty flowers	        
on twenty stems—Blue eyes	
a little closed upon a wish	
achieved and half lost again,	
stemming back, garlanded	
with green sacks of	        
satisfaction gone to seed,	
back to a straight stem—if	
one looks into you, trumpets—!	
No. It is the pale hollow of	
desire itself counting	        
over and over the moneys of	
a stale achievement. Three	
small lavender imploring tips	
below and above them two	
slender colored arrows	        
of disdain with anthers	
between them and	
at the edge of the goblet	
a white lip, to drink from—!	
And summer lifts her look	        
forty times over, forty times	
over—namelessly.

This poem is in the public domain.