Backyard Triumph

Truant from April chores
I daydream in a chair
beneath a tree that scatters
its petals when it stirs,
the way a girl might scatter
blossoms before a litter
that brings a self-made god
exultant down her road,
while Calvinistic bees
insist that glory’s brief.
Extend the allegory:
should petals fall before me?
I’ve not been made aware
of having won a war,
and I did not design
a bridge or new vaccine.
The leaves against my fence
betray my indolence.
This fragrant celebration
might be for anyone.
I know it’s undeserved
but that has not deterred
me from taking pleasure
in the soft spring weather.
The triumphs that I seek
are held for their own sake,
and shower us with grace
like petals on the grass.

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Portico Launch Party

Micah Mattix

Join us at the Union League Club in New York to celebrate the first issue of Portico.…

Pitch for a Catholic Novel

Jonathan Clarke

Imagine a middle-aged white man in good clothes waiting for a morning train at a station of…

Disclosure in Modern Poetry (ft. Glenn Arbery)

R. R. Reno

In this episode, Glenn C. Arbery joins R. R. Reno on The Editor’s Desk to talk about…