STANDING Alone in a Sun-struck FIeLd

© 1995 Tom Lazarus 

 

 

 

for Sweet Melyssa, on her birthday

 

definition: rowan -- a small deciduous tree having clusters of white flowers and orange-red berries

                                                                   -- The American Heritage Dictionary

           

 

 

A smooth-skinned sapling

Willowy and straight

The solitary rowan raises her arms to the sky

 

Berries like the red of tender sweet lips

Offered for crushing to the marauding birds

Fragrant flowers of velvety white

The soft-textured flesh of a porcelain cheek

Dressed in locks that change with the seasons,

The slender stem sways an enchanting dance

Mesmerizing movement independent of the bullying wind

 

Envy the bees their bustling courtship

And the hovering hummingbird his probing bill!