Retire, you screaming and reckless strain,
I want to dilute your desire to hate,
Dissipate, you loveless disease of the brain,
Let's try to make warm what could have been a cold fate.

Bloom, you timid tomorrow of mine,
I want to make room for another's petals,
Flood, you gluttonous gutters of time,
Give us the flowers, not just the nettles.

Linger, oh memory of a phantom friend,
I want to be a singer of your secret tune,
Be a full moon, you impending end,
Smiling crescents shine a liars light in my darkened room.

Awake, you sleepy and half-hearted hope,
I want to dance now but I'm dust that soon settles,
Come back, you lost lifeline and dreamer's rope,
Show me your flowers, I'm weary of nettles.

Lady’s Favor
by Michael R. Burch

May
spring
fling
her riotous petals
devil-
may-care
into the air,
ignoring the lethal
nettles
and may
May
cry gleeful-
ly Hooray!
as the abundance
settles,
till a sudden June
swoon
leave us out of tune,
torn,
when the last rose is left
inconsolably bereft,
rudely shorn
of every device but its thorn.

Keywords/Tags: lady, lady's favor, spring, petals, nettles, may, june, swoon, rose, shorn, thorn, bare, barren, leafless, bereft, naked, ****

Onwards
stomping against the tufts -
grass
older than me
The knots
of a time long passed
I walk down
I walk down

Stinging kiss
of a nettle leaf against
my knees; unprotected
I walk down
I walk down

Brambles tug
my hair and arms
but I am rewarded
with the crisp tartness
of a berry.