Delayed Reaction (J Four)

Delayed Reaction (J Four)

The flower outside my window beckoned me

its long velvet petals straining

like streaks of sunlight

to enter my room

I passed this flower everyday

Its perfume

lusciously engaging my mind

Its face

a bright charismatic kaleidoscope of color

and it grew leaning over

so that each time I went by

it seemed to be moving closer

as if to kiss me

Finally I could resist no longer

and picked this lusting bloom

I offered the purest water

in my finest vase

at the warmest spot

and received its silken bud

on my two lips at last

But time showed change

and this flower lost its gold

Hanging down

it cried its petals away

And now again there is only cavernous black inside

No shining yellow pressed upon the glass

No flirtatious scent in my life

I didn’t realize

and you didn’t know

that bringing you in

would destroy what grows

Now there is only the memory

of your flourishing

and the fragrance of your last breath

on my hands

March 7-18, 1993

Tressa Lee Breen