sclerenchyma

mornings
I wake wary
of abundance
wondering why I’m still here
and then I recall
all the green leaves
with their hiding birds and
the slow triumph
of ripening pods

here lily stalks move
like living things
for this is
what they are
each a pale ballerina
arms stretching
sketching into
resistant air in
winds that conspire
to bring them down

then I’m overwhelmed
by the idea of love – the sap
that runs through each of us and why
time is such a narrow corridor
as we crawl towards the light

is it enough to just be here
to resist these winds
as lilies do
to briefly flower
then leave

John Bartlett is the author of twelve books of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. He was winner of the 2020 Ada Cambridge Poetry Prize and his latest poetry pamphlet is In the Spaces Between Stars Lie Shadows (Walleah Press). He lives in southern Australia.

note: ‘sclerenchyma’ is the strengthening tissue in a plant, formed from cells with thickened, walls.