Between Cracks, Flowers May Bloom

By the side of the boulevard
Hidden beneath a paper cup
A toad leaps, its prey engrossed
To sweet remnants stuck within

The clovers grow beside debris
Raising their sweet blooms high
Bidding for pollinators nearby
For whom they never come

Wherever the flowers can thrive
In glory, they will bloom
While here they only survive
As earth's final lifetime exhumed

Wildflowers plant their seed
In their legacies of dirt
In which they prosper
As the doe eats the blossoms

Scattered plastic wrappers
Are the ground's suffocating blanket
May the milkweeds grow
Between each crack
Let the dandelion's stalks arise

Wherever the flowers can thrive
In glory, they will bloom
While here they only survive
As earth's final lifetime exhumed

The sparrow pecks the paper cup
An object strewed beside the clovers
A red straw mistaken for a worm
One tiny bird's demise

The bird carcass decomposed
Its decay allured the vulture
Despite the straw's stalk obvious
As the body was grasped and pecked

The circle of life disturbed
As the vulture rained down from the sky
Scavengers found falling dead
In memorium of the world's burden

Only a few flowers can thrive
Between trash, they may rise
Merely the ground's adornments
Earth's creeping glance of the skies