Poetry

In Spite

Free Verse

Cropped image of Halcyone, a painting by Herbert James Draper (1915), via Wikimedia Commons (view full painting).

If an apple tree cannot grow from desert sand,
a palm tree on arctic glaciers,
how could such a love exist?
My love, like the leaves of a long-dead Silphium, grew
— upon barren slopes and parched hills.

On the waters of Alpheus, a city emerged —
in spite of my spite, it was born from me.

But now I must hide my body in my soul,
build fences around my walls.
I must bury my throat within my words,
bite my tongue,
and swallow my teeth.

Thank you for reading.