Tender
I have been all day tending beauty.
I have been all day pulling weeds.
Over and over
Sorrel and clover.
Sour sorrel,
yellow, sprightly.
Dark sweet clover,
Tangled, reaching.
Over and over, sorrel and clover,
And crimson flags of amurs.
Inch-high forests of amur maples,
Stems, roots, wicked straight.
I have been all day tending beauty.
I have been all day pulling weeds.
Over and over
Sorrel and clover,
Henbit and plantain,
Bittercress, bindweed,
Nutsedge and purslane,
Toad flax, chickweed.
Tender, Tender, this is your duty,
to be all day tending beauty.
Rita Moe’s poetry has appeared in Water~Stone, Poet Lore, Amethyst Review, Mad Swirl, and other literary journals. Besides poetry, she enjoys cartooning, knitting, gardening. Now retired from an investment firm, she has two grown sons and lives with her husband in Roseville, MN
Amethyst Review 