To the Plant Stranded on the Fire Escape by David Leo Sirois

I apologize: I've never climbed out

onto the sparse metal bars

to water you. But rain arrives

as scheduled, every Tuesday & Saturday,

& you persist in the light.

I have seen you die, twice no less,

nothing but gnarled brown branch ~

from my complacent kitchen window.

Now miniature flowers surprise my eyes,

off-white, a second wedding!

Something in you subsists

on whatever you are given,

while I obsess on what I want to get.

Please stay alive, as I will try,

student of your persistent spirit.

According to the teacher

some simply called The Mother ~

“The flowers are very psychic,

which they express through beauty & silence.”

---

The Author

David Leo Sirois is a Canadian-American poet who wrote & performed in Paris for 7 years. His work has been published in 4 countries (USA, France, England, & the Czech Republic) in several languages. Poems have appeared in journals such as The Poetry Village, The Sunday Tribune Online, The Opiate, Silo, Those That This, THE BASTILLE, Belleville Park Pages, Paris Lit Up, & Terre à Ciel (which also published his translations from the French of Paul Valéry & others). Altogether, he has published 82 pieces, including his work in The Keystone Anthology (Guildford, England), & the anthologies Vignettes & Postcards from Paris, & Becoming Fire: Spiritual Writing from Rising Generations (Boston). He is currently submitting two manuscripts for publication.

David Leo Sirois