Kinship

A nearness and a distance
       a separateness of breath
a language that binds
       through boundary words
Yes we talk in tenderness
       fused by the irreverence of years
a turning towards
       confiding in the confidences exchanged
a mutual nurturing through syllables
       that meet under turning stars

Beauty in the bloom of the magnolia
       the toughness in its weather-resistant
indelicately blood-stained petals
       one of the earth’s boldest statements
winter will not survive another year
       the success of spring and summer
has been seeded and life will soon break out
       of its seclusion when the moment is right
the triumph of flower over dead leaf
       pistils anxious for action
ovules that can’t get enough

fragments of song borne on the air
       telling us too that nature is never alone
or at least never for long
       the idle chatter of birds
that puts us firmly in our place
       that signals an attitude
of devil-may-care
       the framed gesture of a meal shared
so that we too stumble
       towards charmed completeness
oak-like in the field
        Verbose pollens shaped
by the tongue and lip
       dance in the saturated air
breathless and eager
       and edged with deep affection
for which much thanks

John Lyons