Like children fresh from baths
I want to pat their heads
Cup each skull under my palm
Feel the silky-soft spongy give of their new-growth hair.
Their squirming will not deter me from kissing each temple
Breathing in their newness
Then
With my hand still on top
I want to point them to their beds
And release.
Moira Dunphy, 2012
With every blossoming chestnut tree
Je me reviens à la ville de Paris
Strolling behind Nôtre Dame
Une glace Berthillon dans ma main.
Spirea, lilac
Forsythia and chestnut
Pansy, geranium, coleus
Lambs’ ears, allum, euonymous
Flax phlox cress and sedum
Cosmos, bidens, sweet alyssum
Snapdragon, bee balm, hens-and-chicks,
Columbine, portulaca, garden pinks
Black-eyed Susan, Hollyhock
Creeping Jenny and Johnny Jump-up
Rudbeckia, lobelia, nicotania
Dianthus, obedient, impatiens:
vini vidi Vinca
Rewritten in my head every spring. Every spring of my life.
