Our Lady of the Cyclamen
by Ronald W. Pies
A foot
of deep-caked snow
still on the driveway,
and February’s blank stare
through our darkening window.
Suddenly, a lone ladybug
flaunts her colors
on the pane.
Mortality
being a sure thing,
it seems pointless
to do what we do:
lure our lady
with a drop of honey
and place her
in a blossom
on our winter-blooming
cyclamen.
Salvation
isn’t hers to keep,
nor ours;
but we have made
our rejoinder
to February.
Writing Prompt: Try writing a poem in which some aspect of Nature (broadly conceived) helps you regain a glimmer of joy or hope.
Ronald W. Pies, MD, is a physician, novelist and poet affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine. He is the author of the poetry collection Creeping Thyme (Brandylane, 2004); a chapbook of poems, The Doctor’s Poems (Cyberwit.net, 2020); and three novels published as The Levtov Trilogy. Dr. Pies lives with his wife, Nancy, in Lexington, MA.