Pantoum: Monarch Liftoff

A single blooming stalk of purple aster
It bobs lazily in the autumn breeze
Brilliant against a crystalline sky
It bears the gentle weight of a monarch straggler

It bobs lazily in the autumn breeze
Its Halloween colors bleed into purple blossoms
It bears the gentle weight of a monarch straggler
Separate but touching, the two have become one

Its Halloween colors bleed into purple blossoms
It offers sweet succor
Separate but touching, the two have become one
Each fills the other, requites need, sustains life

It offers sweet succor
Like friends become lovers
Each fills the other, requites need, sustains life
In that coming together, something is lost

Like friends become lovers
now minus the anonymity of newness
In that coming together, something is lost
the casualness of early friendship

Now minus the anonymity of newness
they move into a side-by-side space
the casualness of early friendship
Takes shape in a single, lovely space

They move into a side-by-side space
and a different way of touching
takes shape in a single, lovely space
teetering on the edge of intimacy

And a different way of touching
the hesitation of new lovers
teetering on the edge of intimacy
in the moment that exactly precedes monarch lift off

The hesitation of new lovers
a single, blooming stalk of purple aster
in the moment that exactly precedes monarch lift off
brilliant against a crystalline sky