City Seeds

a poem

City Seeds (2024)

Blood sprayed concrete. A city 
landscape, unruly with violence. 
Families surrendered belonging(s).
Felt the rhythm of the city, and fled 
shaking.     A sunflower blooms 
and turns, unintentionally feeds a family 
of birds. The Farmer hums a tune, tuning, 
collecting wayward seeds. For the future
rediscovered roots, in rural plains. Happy 
in a state of growth, a homestead in North Georgia, 
learning the difference, between sprout and sapling. 
Frost arrests the field. Crops yield.
They bring home something new.
Seasons are cycles to which mankind 
is bound. The city reaches, but they keep out 
of touch. Home is where her heart is 
Safe. Perennial spirits return to growth,
with twice the branches, flowers then fruit.
One year later, the home's steady.
They name the crows on the fence.
This murder, a blessing. Astonishing 
all, avoiding drought. Oh the miracle 
of timely rain. They know what it is now, 
to smell of earth, to sense a storm coming.
There is wonder in the water, no? Grow 
or wilt. Families of birds are fed 
each morning. The smell of fresh hay. Again 
a harvest, once more a frost. The thrum of the cycle.
New life, all around, surrounding.
Flowers thriving vs. dying. Lying 
atop a casket. An old rooster crows,
Good Mourning.