Sunbleached and drooping,
the whispering ancient
treetops insist—earth's air grows
heavier with vapor
nearer to where
the truth is;
even the brash
light racing
from a cataclysmic old star
will center the still
and nurture the starving—until,
one day, under their prodigious shade,
insect travelers—tired,
myriad-eyed,
from far reaches of outer space—
alight and find
temporary safety—in the jaws
of a shaded lily.
