Dooms of Balm
--L. S. Klatt 

The earth is covered
in lilacs. Corals
in the lilac sea mean
brains are thinking
of bee balm. When
deadheads 

last perfumed, there was a purple discharge, then
a gratitude. We sleep, knowing we may be ambushed 

by a lilac dream,
but the sun is
a friend, our ultra-
violet friend. To
make a synthetic
grief out of lilacs
is not to feel
purposeless.

[from Sunshine Wound; Parlor Press (2014)]