Ice Plant

Elizabeth Raby

A tight mix of matter and design,
succulent clusters, juicy sacs,
yellow green tinged with red.
Here ants in their wild chemical
dance are witness to this year’s
mating of the sun to May,
fiery Queen of Love.

Once, driven into ground
the maypole sprouted new leaves,
ancient supplication to the sun
to renew its yellow desire
for earth’s black blood. And then
a moment’s pause, a softness
of gestation before summer’s surge.
Birds force apart the air
with their urgent song.

The ice plant expands its stored
juices. The ants fatten their own
waiting queen.

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