Blossom

the fields re a-bush and a-blaze,
this May, with whitest blossom;

after the burgeoning of blackthorn,
hawthorn trees are bursting

out of their skins' seams, clouded
white beacons on fire all at once,

great scumbled mock-ups of the sheep
that limp under them, suffering their lambs;

not to mention wild cherry, crab-apple,
horse-chestnut'sroistering candles,

the spray-heads of rowan and elder,
and longest lasting, tall cow-parsley,

that insists on its title of Queen Anne's lace
- before all of it rusts, to fruit and seed

© Alec Rapkin