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A Blade of Grass
Brian Patten
…………………
You ask for a poem.
I offer you a blade of grass.
You say it is not good enough.
You ask for a poem.
…………………
I say this blade of grass will do.
It has dressed itself in frost,
It is more immediate
Than any image of my making.
…………………
You say it is not a poem,
It is a blade of grass and grass
Is not quite good enough.
I offer you a blade of grass.
…………………
You are indignant.
You say it is too easy to offer grass.
It is absurd.
Anyone can offer a blade of grass.
…………………
You ask for a poem.
And so I write you a tragedy about
How a blade of grass
Becomes more and more difficult to offer,
…………………
And about how as you grow older
A blade of grass
Becomes more difficult to accept.
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