A poem
Most of what I write draws from the ethereal beauty of nature: the earth, the trees, the wind, the water and the sky. My family says that these poems are not good enough to be published. Mosty likely that is so.
Nevertheless, I have found writing whatever I am able to, to reach a corner of my being that I had not experienced before. I distribute them widely, specially to my family, friends and colleagues, in the hope that they would understand me a little better, and to soften and to breath sweet life into our interactions.
8/14/08 The Sunflower
My wife and I are ardent gardeners. Our neighbors think we are mad. They see us in our funny looking clothes inspecting our little plants three or four times a day.
There are many flowers that grow, each with its own radiance. But the great pleasure comes from watching just one of them, grow in many stages from a tiny seed: first into a green stem, the into a small bud, which appears to take forever to unfold its beauty, then the music between its face and the smiling sun. The poem below is such a story of the sunflower.
An insignificant seed
put into the damp soil of spring
struggles into life.
I give it a little water,
am uncertain of its future.
In mid–summer,
it is proud and six feet tall,
with broad, magnificent leaves,
evenly spaced,
about a score in number,
swaying in the breeze,
fresh with life and vigor.
Slowly the flower bud,
at first tightly formed,
opens into a brilliant yellow circle of petals,
turning to the rhythm of the sun.
The center is black and velvety,
of a thousand stamens.
like an army in perfect order.
The bees swarm for its sweet nectar.
They are full with honey,
moving slowly,
their silky feathers barely quiver to my touch.
It is now late summer.
The ovaries have swollen.
in a spiral from the outer rim, until full.
I can feel them with the touch of my hand, each one of them.
Endowed by motherhood the sunflower bows to the earth,
to face its own place of birth, oozing love and dignity.
I think I saw tears of happiness dripping to moisten its feet.