State Flower of Arkansas

It’s in the vase

you placed

in the hall,

after the night

we heard the twang,

the song

that played

unexpectedly

to our impromptu

bare embraces,

our kisses too fervent

for friends –

a single Apple

Blossom: pink and white,

the Pyrus

Coronaria,

from the state

‘side Tennessee;

it harks back

to munching cattle

in the fields,

to trucks

that dust the sides

of gravel roads,

to a cowbell

calling all

to Sunday lunch.

And now it speaks

in a tongue

we cannot hear,

an ethereal

howdy and drawl,

the unexpected

spell

of strangest days.

Andreas Gripp

RF Image