The Tension Leaves

Scarlet or white
Or even triumphantly pink,
Your petals are cloves of petrified flame
Like closed hands,
With the coldness of pacified fire

Those leaves
Have the amphibian about them
And the spattered white crest –

The whole arrangement like a seized lilypad,
Broken into smallness
And smashed over with the crest of white water

But you live together!
Half flame,
Half water,
And the indescribable tension between

Could it be –
Strange fires erupting
And made still by the pool?

Cyclamen!
I see you now
And your flowers are gone,
But always the unending leaves
Splash-scalded and tireless
Are rising,
Pondering out,
Where the flames you had borne
Gave up