Tansy Season: a poem

Tansy * noun * [Origin: Middle English-tanesey, Old French-tanesie, Medieval Latin-athanasia, Greek-athanatos—immortal, equivalent to a + thanatos—death] * a common weedy composite herb (Tanaceum vulgare) with an aromatic odor, very bitter taste, and finely divided leaves; broadly: a plant of the same genus

sometimes I’ll be

standing in a field

and it looks like I’m

doing nothing

I’ll tell you

--shhhh—

I’m listening

with my eyes

today I see

a small plant

with lacy leaves

and delicate yellow flowers

in April

it seems too early

to see blooms

but for these tough winter annuals

this tansy mustard

it’s just another day in the sun

and looking small and delicate

is a ruse

for how resilient

Mother Nature

has created her children

that proliferate

this early

a child of the aster family

cousin of the daisy

Tansy’s root word is a relative of death

meaning immortality and health

like the bitter yellow tansy

I may be sensitive and small

but am weather worn and

stand through storms

ready for what is blown my way

do not see only with your eyes

but listen closely too

very still

and hear as I do

the small fire within

I am ready for the next season

my tansy season

I am tough

but lacy

delicate

but strong

growing

flowering

ready

every edge cut just so

for you old man weather

this little tansy Julie

grows on

blooms on

lives on

tansy—immortal—me. 

April 30, 2020

Tansy Julie Soaring Eagle Paschold