JUVEN
Asparagus Fern
by Rebecca Johnson
Asparagus Fern
The youthful asparagus fern is fancy and feathered,
robed in her evening gown of refinement--
Now presenting the family Liliaceae!
Look how frills and flourishes obscure miniature thorns,
primed to elicit dewdrops of red. Hear the gossip behind jeweled fans:
The youngest is a rebellious child, she’s more deceptive than roses.
The waltz has begun, and this the cadenza mimics
the thundering falls of the ancient world,
cascading emotions and musings.
May I have this dance? Rebellious indeed,
she convinces a promising young woman with a budding future,
to embrace this intimate and eternal waltz.
Such a fair maiden, ladies whisper, and that she is, with a nature
hardened in the flames of perfection. But who could claim, would claim,
perfection to stop the clock’s ill strike on a heart slowly suffocating?
--
Winter shutters the windows, and dusk cages the light;
upon the silent dance floor, the sylvan green gown of the fern shrivels to beige
in the arms of a woman whose spirit is freshly withered by affliction.
A woman and a fern trapped within their cruel twist of fate;
two souls curl within their own crumpled husks.
Just a sip, a single drink, the sweet relief of water.
And yet, the rebellious asparagus fern refuses to die, she longs to thrive,
and the woman is her kindred spirit.
Play the waltz...your waltz...our waltz.
Stubborn endurance is the sustenance of the broken
as they seek rebirth for dry stems and brittle roots,
and closer inspection reveals the soft green of new life.
--
Can you see, the warm embrace of the spring sun
beckons to the hesitant, curling fronds of the fern
as a woman’s drawn hand stretches alongside.
For a soul supporting another is a beautiful thing,
and the intricacies of life bring meaning to our music
as we dance the swaying waltz on the ballroom floor.
The youthful asparagus fern is fancy and feathered,
robed in her evening gown of refinement--
Now presenting the family Liliaceae!
Look how frills and flourishes obscure miniature thorns,
primed to elicit dewdrops of red. Hear the gossip behind jeweled fans:
The youngest is a rebellious child, she’s more deceptive than roses.
The waltz has begun, and this the cadenza mimics
the thundering falls of the ancient world,
cascading emotions and musings.
May I have this dance? Rebellious indeed,
she convinces a promising young woman with a budding future,
to embrace this intimate and eternal waltz.
Such a fair maiden, ladies whisper, and that she is, with a nature
hardened in the flames of perfection. But who could claim, would claim,
perfection to stop the clock’s ill strike on a heart slowly suffocating?
--
Winter shutters the windows, and dusk cages the light;
upon the silent dance floor, the sylvan green gown of the fern shrivels to beige
in the arms of a woman whose spirit is freshly withered by affliction.
A woman and a fern trapped within their cruel twist of fate;
two souls curl within their own crumpled husks.
Just a sip, a single drink, the sweet relief of water.
And yet, the rebellious asparagus fern refuses to die, she longs to thrive,
and the woman is her kindred spirit.
Play the waltz...your waltz...our waltz.
Stubborn endurance is the sustenance of the broken
as they seek rebirth for dry stems and brittle roots,
and closer inspection reveals the soft green of new life.
--
Can you see, the warm embrace of the spring sun
beckons to the hesitant, curling fronds of the fern
as a woman’s drawn hand stretches alongside.
For a soul supporting another is a beautiful thing,
and the intricacies of life bring meaning to our music
as we dance the swaying waltz on the ballroom floor.
Rebecca Johnson is an emerging writer currently studying creative writing at the University of North Texas. Her poetry seeks to dissolve the stigma surrounding migraine and other chronic illnesses and offer those with unseen disabilities a chance to be heard.