Rape,
Shadows,
Spring
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
When rape blares out in shadowed parts of fields,
The spring is past. Rape glares in yellow swathes
Across the farm. All other vision yields
To diamond brightest onslaught. Yellow bathes
The eyes with yellow sight. Spread yellow gems
Are like a flying carpet come to rest,
Canary yellow diamonds on stems
Of rape, rape, rape. The spring flares out with zest.
At last the blossoms open even in
In the parts of fields where shadows dominate.
When rape blooms there, we sense that Eden’s sin
Is banished. Spring, though, knows its coming fate.
The banishment of Eden’s sin is brief,
Then blaring summer comes . . . and autumn’s sheaf.
~ Phillip Whidden
