I Am Vertical

 But I would rather be horizontal.

I am not a tree with my root in the soil
Sucking up minerals and motherly love
So that each March I may gleam into leaf,
Nor am I the beauty of a garden bed
Attracting my share of Ahs and spectacularly painted,
Unknowing I must soon unpetal.

Compared with me, a tree is immortal
And a flower-head not tall, but more startling,
And I want the one's longevity and the other's daring.


Tonight, in the infinitesimal light of the stars,
The trees and flowers have been strewing their cool odors.

I walk among them, but none of them are noticing.

Sometimes I think that when I am sleeping
I must most perfectly resemble them--
Thoughts gone dim.

It is more natural to me, lying down.

Then the sky and I are in open conversation,
And I shall be useful when I lie down finally:
The the trees may touch me for once, and the flowers have time for me.

Biography | Poems | Best Poems | Short Poems | Quotes | Email Poem |

Poems are below...