"In Perpetual Spring," by Amy Gerstler

"Return to Nature," by Asli Akyuz

In Perpetual Spring
Amy Gerstler
 
Gardens are also good places
to sulk. You pass beds of
spiky voodoo lilies  
and trip over the roots  
of a sweet gum tree,  
in search of medieval  
plants whose leaves,  
when they drop off  
turn into birds
if they fall on land,
and colored carp if they  
plop into water.

Suddenly the archetypal  
human desire for peace  
with every other species  
wells up in you. The lion  
and the lamb cuddling up.
The snake and the snail, kissing.
Even the prick of the thistle,  
queen of the weeds, revives  
your secret belief
in perpetual spring,
your faith that for every hurt  
there is a leaf to cure it.

[Image above by Azli Akyuz]

Poem from Bitter Angel, 1990, via the Poetry Foundation.

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I adore Amy Gerstler's poems...this one is no exception. Oh, those final lines! This poem feels especially appropriate for this week, as spring is finally jumping up to greet those us of in the Midwest.