Petunias
                               
Lately
I've come to study
the lush, blazing
bodies of their tenderness

as if they were
the anatomy of rapture,
I've been listening when
their soundless music

lightens the air with
a profusion of notes
silky and delicate
as a pulse. Whenever

the sun tilts,
the ardent funnels of their faces
humbly lift and fill
with an unstoppable light.

I keep watching them.
I keep asking myself
what I know about
devotion in this life.

I follow their gaze into
the sky's amphitheater
to memorize
the revelation of clouds.

The day goes slowly dark and wild
but petunias
raise their pitchers and pour
a fire of kindness.