Poem: To a Dandelion
The following poem is something I submitted recently to a “letting go” poetry challenge.
I’ve always been impressed with the life and “afterlife,” so to speak, of a dandelion — how it develops, withers, yet finds continuance.
Although some people detest the sight of the dandelion’s gold blossoms across a yard, I find it to be a beautiful flower, and it’s something that can support bee populations while offering other potential benefits you might like to research online sometime.
Metaphorically, the dandelion offers an excellent example of how nature can show us how to live, to thrive and survive, and to see how there can be a literal continuance after death or any presumed ending.
These are some of the thoughts that ran through my mind as I wrote this “apostrophe poem” (a poem addressing an idea, something non-human or absent, or someone departed).
I hope you enjoy reading this poem.
To a Dandelion
Between the clover and the vines
that climb and cling to rotting wood,
how quietly you preach release
from every corner of the yard.
You bloom a hundred rays or more
of gold that mostly no one wants,
but you press on with precious roots,
enduring though ephemeral.
No withering will limit you;
it’s in this “death,” this letting go,
that you divulge renewal’s truths
as seeds emerge, drift off with wind:
accept this life is brevity,
yet yielding brings continuance,
advances past apparent loss.
You’re not there, then you’re everywhere.
Poem by Robert J. Tiess, Copyrighted 2023
