Friday, August 22, 2025

Sufficient

'Poem for the week' -- "Sufficient":   


Citron, pomegranate,

     Apricot, and peach,

  Flutter of apple-blows

     Whiter than the snow,

  Filling the silence

     With their leafy speech,

  Budding and blooming

     Down row after row.


Breaths of blown spices,

     Which the meadows yield,

  Blossoms broad-petaled,

     Starry buds and small;

  Gold of the hill-sides,

     Purple of the field,

  Waft to my nostrils

     Their fragrance, one and all.


Birds in the tree-tops,

     Birds that fill the air,

  Trilling, piping, singing,

     In their merry moods, —

  Gold wing and brown wing,

     Flitting here and here,

  To the coo and chirrup

     Of their downy broods.


What grace has summer

     Better that can suit?

  What gift can autumn

     Bring us more to please?

  Red of blown roses,

     Mellow tints of fruit,

  Never can be fairer,

     Sweeter than are these


-- Ina Donna Coolbrith