Stair Poem, 3

Slipping down the icy steps of Dallas Hall,
I saw a bed of frozen flowers --
Pitiful petunias, sketched in
Drooping purple and heavy yellow.
The dull green leaves sagged under the weight of their own dead flesh,
The petals killed by cold --
They folded limply down
And draped low to the ground, soft
And remain frozen as statues of ancient children.

Spring 1993