Poems (Katharine Elizabeth Howard)/I poured water into a bowl
I POURED WATER INTO A BOWL
Infinitesimal things charming, whence do you come?A short time since I looked and you were not.Thoughtfully I poured water into a bowl;I set therein some dry husks,And now you are reaching up and down,—Long white tendrils delicately feeling downward,Pointed green shoots deliciously reaching upward.You go both down and up, nothing but the entire Universe will do for you.I am wondering if it is with sublime unconsciousness you do your reaching.
Green things delicate, why is your pushing limited?You who a short time since were primary,You who have an immediate memory,I think that I see in one of you a swelling: Does that mean that a flower will grow,A flower that may have a sweet odour?And all this because, thoughtfully, I poured water over dry husks into a bowl.