Geranos

"As long as the fleshy pulp is gone
There is no built-in dormancy that
Has to be overcome." So forget

That the quotation you have just read
Concerns the elegant and ancient,
Civilization-rescued gingko

And pretend we have something to do,
More or more, with the geranium-
Colored geranium, common, white,

Pink, purple, or blue "with distinctive
Veining," like me or you--or the church
With shell-shaped windows and cartridge

Guard tower by ornately carved doors
Built to protect sacred memory
Of weaponry, lampooned by poets,

Well, by a particular poet
Of Hartford, lawyer in purple light,
Absurd as sanctuary pistols.

That there is a confusion of truth
With goodness in a world of pretty
Caring for neither is no business.