from DIALOGUES WITH
DAPHNE
by Tracy Marks These haiku poems were inspired by
a several dreams I had related to the Daphne myth (in which Daphne of Roman and Greek mythology, attempting to escape from Apollo, is transformed into a tree). They are copyright 1989, and were
published in 1989 in The Daphne Haikus, in my book, Your Secret Self.
I am Daphne. I
Speak the language of the leaves
I rustle and fall.
I know bark, not flesh.
Only the wind touches me.
My name is Daphne.
In winter, I am
Daphne the crone, bereft, bare,
With snow-whitened hair.
My buds are fragile.
My calyx protects petals
From early spring frost.
Sunlight, warm my limbs.
Breeze, caress me. Rain, leave
me/ Shimmering with silver.
I have a maiden's luster
In springtime. I flush
With golden flowers.
I flirt and flounce, toss
My blossoms, pale crown of curls,
Feverish with spring.
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Daphne, do you know
Rain pelting silver on your
Bark? Remember rain.
In fall, you dazzle
Us with color. You, Daphne,
Blushed scarlet and gold.
And do you flower,
Daphne? Do you burst into
Blossoms in the spring?
Daphne, you tremble
With desire. Your petals
Quiver with longing.
Daphne, your spring glow
Allures us. You tantalize
All the honeybees.
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Daphne, do you wave
Your limbs in the summer breeze
As a young sapling?
Daphne, do you dance,
Flapping your bark, boughing
your/Crimson, autumn head?
How does a tree dance,
Daphne? How does a tree wave
Its limbs, shake its roots?
My dance is the dance
Of time, says Daphne. My dance
Is my unfolding.
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