A WISH

a wish --

less mundane stress & strife, more
Amor, and the gods’ life!

I’d forgotten the world could reward us
with such a clean October morning

you all read the morning’s headlines
and if you don’t, you somehow
absorb their message of fear:

yet on my apartment’s back porch
a yellow chrysanthemum is silently tearing open
its green covering. That bud is so swollen
with a little watering it has pushed through
with all the force of the sun. What do we know

of such circles of power, invested as we are
in petty intrigues and court news?

I long for a practical attitude among us
that acknowledges this little flower’s push
instead of the traffic’s rush.

I’m not NUMBER ONE
and hold up no finger
though I strive for excellence and beauty
like any man inspired by a giraffe’s graceful gallop.

1979