tressling and untressling the wild grasses
with soft whispers of summer

maybe the midnight toad song
that you thought was a bird

but the birds don’t garnish the night
with their ditties

maybe the slow lean of sunflowers
that you thought were reaching

but were only trying to forget

maybe the single red poppy
standing in the beautiful waves of barley

so alive
it turns my insides with shame

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Poetry and Photography by Michael Ashley. Photo taken with an iPhone in Segovia, Spain.