Yellow star of Bethlehem

it's a rarity I've seen only here,
in the bank's thick, rough greenery,
where cattle have trampled; in an hour,
I've found three, scraps, easily missable

from slim lance-leaves, the delicate flower,
star-petalled, hangs like an eyelash;
so early in the year, it's a vulnerable
minority, hemmed about

by the round-leaved lesser celandines,
fuller-headed, crasser, glossier,
that are exploding into countless galaxies,
for every yellow star of Bethlehem

© Alec Rapkin