Poetry

Fall 2007

 

 

Graham Ellis

Iceberg Poppies

Dedicated to the memory of Andrew, my son

Held in the clasp of memory
These fragile stems bend.
So slowly, the quick colour fades,
Snow melted by sunlight

In my father’s heart
I hear petals open,
So delicately
Over this wound.

Like the day you came,
Then left.

For a lifetime
Poppies’ paper wings
Flutter and fall.

Today, on your birthday,
They reappear,
Suddenly.

And occasionally,
In between.

(Previously published in Poetry in Performance 34, City College of New York, 2006.)

 

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