Poem | [You — Ferns]

(KReimer / Pixabay)

 

[YOU — FERNS]

You—ferns under the window
ferns under the pine,

I planted the pines, then you,
and put in a window,

my great work of silence and shade.
And now you don’t need me to sit here,

need no one to keep your secret
under a blazing sky.

How you unfold your hands
as after prayer

more and more hands
opening, perfect
unreadable scrolls.

Published in the May 2020 issue: 
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John Martone is the author of of Giovanni Pascoli: O Little One and Selected Poems, which appeared earlier this year from Laertes Books. His most recent collection of poems is Homelands, and he is currently translating the letters and writings of the anchoress Nazarena of Jesus, OSB.

Also by this author
Poem | Globus Cruciger

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