violets
by Matthew Stokdyk
A spray of purple midst the tombs—
the petals press the graves—
a rowdy crowd, the loudest bloom—
the violets don’t behave—
and here interred, eternal shade,
bedecked in royal hue—
and hear: if I should here be laid,
let flowers comfort you.
Originally published on Instagram on April 20th, 2019, as part of a poem-a-day project I did for National Poetry Month. I recommend checking out the post, as it includes photos of the violets. I actually ended up getting subtweeted by another poet who thought it was disrepectful to place my poem on the graves!