Strawflower's Waltz

Chris Bathgate
in the balmy breath
in the backwoods of Magnolia
me and my love we lay
me and my love
we linger
and this room's been kept for 3 days
and the scent that blazed across my face
as she had cracked the window
strawflowers
in the catalyst calm
in the comfort of a coated awn
in a field that I loom
in a field where it started
we lay in the deepest green
ten years since I'd last seen
you are a thorny bird
strawflower