Amaryllis

Blue white and red poppy flower field

 

This summer day, posed against orange

zinnias, red geraniums—its hot rivals

beyond the window glass—the flowering

trumpet offers winter’s gift of white light.

Through snow and sleet, while daffodils

and tulips shouldered upward against the earth,

it slept in the basement, bulb like an

overwintering onion nestled in a pot of dirt.

 

When I carried it into the sun, I heard

the whisper of the green stalk’s growing,

evolution’s secrets wakening from

their long slumber, felt in my bones something

stir, too strong for earth’s bounds—light from

a distant star a lifetime in arriving.

 

Poem by Connie Green

Connie Jordan Green lives on a small farm in East Tennessee. She is the author of two award-winning novels for young people, two poetry chapbooks, and two poetry collections. She is a newspaper columnist and frequently leads writing workshops. For more information, please visit her website, conniejordangreen.com.