“take something to remember this day” by Mary Silwance
take something to remember this day
(an exhortation from the retreat)
chinquapin oak
loose limbed
leafing green shade
cool breeze
full body insulation
from blistering July
distant braying and near crowing
staccato the insect symphony
that underscores stillness
guinea fowl eggs brindled
amidst squash vines
third trimester heaviness
of purple black eggplant
tangy late season raspberries
hummingbird moths
graze saffron zinnias
yellow swallowtails
fan Queen Anne’s lace
dragonfly wings catch
iridescence
lavender bush dizzy with bees
beauty
splashes
beyond the flimsy sieve
of language
beyond a paltry list
beyond tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any human merely being*
no need to take
I am given.
*ee cummings
Mary Silwance, August 2017