Things That Grow

Certain flowers never bloom,

others take a hundred years,

each promiscuous, each spring.

Cowards never learn to face their doom,

humble beggars taste cold tears,

and hypocrites petition kings.

Apples fall before the blast,

roses, shaken, fall apart,

fungi huddle in the maple’s crotch.

Children pay for seasons past

and lovers flee the moon beam’s heart

but poets ascertain and keep the watch.