Thinking of Madame Bovary
By Jane Kenyon
The first hot April day the granite step
was warm. Flies droned in the grass.
When a car went past they rose
in unison, then dropped back down. . . .
I saw that a yellow crocus bud had pierced
a dead oak leaf, then opened wide. How strong
its appetite for the luxury of the sun!
Everyone longs for love’s tense joy and red delights.
And then I spied an ant
dragging a ragged, disembodied wing
up the warm brick walk. It must have been
the Methodist in me that leaned forward,
preceded by my shadow, to put a twig just where
the ant was struggling with its own desire.
Copyright Credit: Jane Kenyon, "Thinking of Madame Bovary" from Collected Poems. Copyright © 2005 by the Estate of Jane Kenyon. Reprinted by permission of Graywolf Press.
Source: Collected Poems (Graywolf Press, 2005)