National Poetry Month 2017
Find the round up of Spiritual Journey posts at Violet’s blog. Click the image.
These flowers appeared under the porch at Solomon House. Volunteers vining from another plant about 10 feet away on the other side of the sidewalk. There’s a line in a play my students perform about growing up at The Shadows, “We grow a flower called, ‘ham ‘n eggs.” This is it. See the pink ham and the golden egg yolk. This flower is also a fractal, growing blossoms that look like tiny bouquets.
Today for Spiritual Thursday, we are writing around the theme of new life, spring, and Easter. I’ve been thinking about how we carry the spirits of our ancestors with us. Like it or not, their lives influence ours. We can see this as a gift or a curse. We must be gentle with these spirits.
Pink lantana
sneaks under the porch
snakes through the dark earth
carrying the burden of a mother’s pain.
This fractal flower
springs forth surprising
the toes of the hungry and the poor,
lighting a path like grandmother’s Easter bonnet.
Don’t pick her blossoms.
They will sprinkle like confetti.
Just hold your gaze on her sunshine
remembering from whence she came.
–Margaret Simon
Reflections on the Teche 
Thank you, love your connection of Spring-
New life, and Easter!
I love lantana! And yes, to remember is such an important part of my spiritual life. Thank you for the ham-n-eggs, too, which I’d never heard of. 🙂
Yes, “just hold your gaze on her sunshine”! What a beautiful line.
So beautiful! I especially love “Don’t pick her blossoms/They will sprinkle like confetti” Love that!
So much to love in this phofection (photo +reflection)! I love that these flowers appeared volunteer, much like those who arrive at Solomon House to help those in need. Favorite line in your poem: “…lighting a path like grandmother’s Easter bonnet.”
I’m glad you saw the connection between the volunteer flower and those who volunteer at SH.
Margaret, I love how you spread out all your ideas and then drew the threads together in your lovely poem. Really like the extended metaphor of Easter–the “burden of a mother’s pain” (thinking of Jesus’ mother Mary) and a grandmother’s Easter bonnet. May you have a meaningful Easter season.
Another dimension to ponder. That’s the thing with poetry: We can interpret it as an observer to a work of art.
Gorgeous poem – such reverence in its haunting tone. I loved the line, “carrying the burden of a mother’s pain.” I participated in a stations of the cross a few weeks ago, called Mary’s Way. The stations are told from Mary’s perspective… very powerful. She too had to “hold her gaze” on the truths she “pondered” in her heart -that Jesus’ death was inevitable in order for us to experience new life.
That must have been a powerful perspective. Thanks for your comment.
Such a lovely poem Margaret. Ditto on Violet’s words about the extended metaphor. I ponder “Don’t pick her blossoms. … Just hold your gaze on her sunshine” and think of some children I know. Have a lovely Easter.