The Reedswamp

I once spent a year

Trying to find
A good way
To describe grass
The green hair of God
Where the shadows
of lady bugs
Flutter to make friends
With your childhood
And the worms
Curl and writhe
Like boneless fingers
They find it so hard
to make a decision
And stick to it
I once spent a year
Trying to find
A good way
To describe grass
If it’s tall enough
It feels like
A stranger
Whispering in your ear
If it’s wet enough
Like a thousand tiny tongues
Made of vinyl
I once spent a year
Trying to find
A good way
To describe grass
A sea of emerald mourners
In a constant state of prayer
Over the bones of rabbits
Or the hollow shells
Of grasshoppers
While pagan ants make their way
Across a thousand prostrate towers
I once spent a year
Trying to find
A good way
To describe grass
And my lawn died.