[Martin Elster]

A World of Contrasts

Earth teems with florids, in-betweens, and plains:
the stillness of a town on Christmas Day;
a hike along a hilltop trail, away
from fumes, where birds flaunt feathers with such stains
of style, the finest painters are at pains
to render them. One-petaled blooms in May
(the calla) or complex (the dahlia) play
and tease their pollinators. Somber rains,
which coax the chorus frogs and quake the leaves
(oval, narrow, heart-shaped), when the sun’s
commanding beams appear through storm cloud sheaves,
make jazzy arcs to take away your breath.
Observe this world from space, though, as it runs
in loops, and say it looks less dull than death.