I Snuck Into the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

I snuck into the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens

again

I hope I’ll be forgiven 

I did not ask to be poor

or to want so badly to gaze 

on the wet galaxy of spiderwebs 

atop the Heart-leaved Groundsel

by the brook

there’s a mystery here

I’m not even trying to solve

the Shining Sumac

the Gray Goldenrod

the Toadshade

and the Pawpaw tree’s stiff fruit

nothing here has eyes

no face to turn toward me

and no face to turn away 

the Great Blue Lobelia

tall as a woman giving orders

is perfectly silent

a mouth closed tight on the key

hard to believe 

but the Long-stalked Astor

really wants nothing 

I could empty my bank account 

and still 

it wouldn’t be 

any more or less my friend 

we’re just here 

unable to fuck it up

and ah this Scarlet Oak

with its kingdom 

of Virginia ryegrass

tell me the truth now 

the summer is hot

the city is loud

and I know you can’t free me from pain

but tell me, Scarlet Oak

I can take it

tell me the reason

I do not shine with a love 

so unconditional 

it draws hordes into my orbit

to bask