John Lucas
Reading Ovid in Beeston
Geranium red is not the red of blood,
so how come that as each new petal fell
and splashed the grass, it could have been a sigh
like breeze-filled branches I heard well
up from the ground beneath this flawless sky?
Drowsing, I thought, the bird that dropped the seed
translated from Africa to England’s May
had lifted it from an Aegean island
where, scythed and spread to sun, the dead plant lay
as though prepared for some ambiguous garland.
Trying to rewind change can do no good,
but now I spooled from petal back to a girl
emerging from Saronic blue, then, seized
in a taloned grip, limbs flailing, and the swirl
of waters as she’s plunged to deepest grief.
Later, thrown clear, she’s buried in a wood
by herdsmen, desperate to hide
the guilt of gods who killed because they could.
And then the flowers come up from her grave,
geraniums, red as guilt, and spread worldwide.
Page(s) 32
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