Trillium
I met a girl in a sunny wood
before the leaves were grown.
Trillium Jane, she gave her name,
an all along her sleeves and skirt
pale blossoms there were sewn.
Might I ask why, I said to her,
you've so adorned your gown?
Those flowers fair you now do wear
will with'r and wilt within a week
and leaf and stem turn brown.
Within a week? What do I care,
she cheerily replied.
Their pink and white brings me delight
today, before the sunlight fades,
and in the shade I die.
Tomorrow, I shall die.
A chill came to the forest, then
though still the sun shone bright.
Somewhere above, there called a dove;
in branches clenched like choking arms
it sang of nearing night.
Seeing that I could say no more,
she bowed and went her way.
I stood alone among the stones
imagining her fate were mine—
how would I live this day?
Were I to die the very next,
how could I bear this day?
Spring ephemerals, such as Trillium grandiflorum, cover the floor of deciduous forests in the brief interval between the spring thaw and the growth of the summer canopy. They sprout, flower, bloom, and die within a span of weeks, wilting just as the sky above them greens with leaves.