Bearded Iris
…and then the day came when the
risk to remain tight in a bud
was more painful than the
risk it took to blossom.
–Anais Nin
Tightly packed buds rise
on slender stalks
under your bedroom window.
You watch the flower heads
each cool spring day.
Warm days loosen
their hold
on purple. Condensed
in a crepe seal,
they unpack themselves.
The buds swell beyond
the transparent protection,
beyond the bruised flesh
of awkward youth.
One morning you wake
to the blue sky competing
with a flock of iris,
and you see your father’s
shoulders,
there in the iris bed,
bent to the ground,
planting.
by Avis Adams
