Like Mercy (Day 1013)

In August winter starts

to seep upward 

from the ground   like mist 

I carry it   tucked 

deep inside my bones  

like mercy or courage  

the way violets keep 

their own counsel   

emerging ever-so-slowly 

along the edges of a clearing 

favored by dog-walkers

and in the footprints

of soldiers long dead 

in the silent passageways 

of mountain kings 

we tread  forbidden  

over a bounty of secret flowers 

their tiny petals quivering 

impossible to watch  

so tender   how the sun shone 

through the pale fountains 

of unfurling leaves  

(c) 2019, by Hannah Six

Image: Edouard Manet, Bouquet of violets (1872),

 oil on canvas, via Wikimedia Commons