Photo by Sara Wright
The glorious
white stars
waited in vain
for rain
for miner
sweat
mason
or bumblebee
to feast
on pollen
sacred to All
after three days
petals
drooped
golden
eyes shut
pearled
almonds
fell
one by one
next year’s
compost
soaked in
unshed
tears.
Perhaps
Bee Goddess
has a plan
Changing Woman
transforms
Sky Woman
holds the
seeds …
clasping
bloodroot
spears
and
buds
wrapped in
gray shawls
she may
yet
choose
to
intervene.
Author’s Note: I thought I was writing this poem about bloodroot adapting to a spring that hasn’t arrived, but I see now that I have written a prayer to honor the Power of the Goddess who I cannot separate from Nature. She manifests as a Bee, as Changing Woman’s mountain (Navajo), and finally as Sky Woman Falling to earth as a flower petal that surrenders to the winds of change (Anishinaabe creation myth). This poem speaks to both the tenacity and fragility of all life including my own. Will the Goddess intervene to help us navigate an unknown future? What is rarely articulated is the fear that underlies so many lives. We have two choices, continue to resist or find a way to transcend.
A hopeful side note: If the bees don’t come to pollinate these flowers Bloodroot has developed an alternate strategy to reproduce. This wildflower self- pollinates by folding her petals into the center of her yellow eye. As a naturalist I can’t help wondering if this secondary method of reproduction might take over if
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