democracy— translucent petals revealing in dawn’s half-light
aphids cluster just as stamens shiver with possibility
its roots shallow in thin soil
thirsting
while we as gardeners
sleep-walk through freedoms inherited not earned

pollen grips unworthy fingers
while nectar attracts both bee & pest
the blooming asks everything
promises nothing
while at its edges frost forms
as steady creeping (have we noticed?)
& who tends the garden now? who kneels in mud?

Whose calloused hands
show the labour
that birth demands?

Wake!
the flower’s fragile stem bends from history’s steady wind
wake!
before petals scatter and are lost like worthless ballots

 

2/3/2025