Deciphering the Bloom

by Laura Morefield

 

A message echoes in the hollow
purple throats of jacaranda blossoms,
their fragrant corpses paint the ground with it.
 
Agapanthus know a secret too,
thrusting narrow stems skyward, blading the air with pointed
buds that strain until they burst
 
with it.  Pride of Madeira, less desperate
with foreknowledge, grow stately cones of limned
periwinkle--then fade into green from one day

to the next.  Whispering.  Cherry trees, dwarf lemons,
pineapple guava, bear’s foot, crape myrtles.  It is written in the singularity
of bud to bloom to fruit to emptiness.  Breathe

what wisdom they impart.  Sniff it out.  Crush it between fingers. 
Read mystery in the stains left purple on your fingers, in the dry heads
of spent flowers.  Tempus fugit.  Hope for one 
 
more spring.