Ferns
Ahrend Torrey
It’s not in view, but in mystery,
why ferns stretch their arms—
and dandelions, every May,
let us see happiness,
then wither,
to show us
the other side of that bright place.
The dark side is not without purpose.
The dark side is not without love.
The seeds would not come
if it were not for the death
of the blossom. And the ferns—
think of the horrible destructions
they’ve endured
over millions of years—
they keep stretching, stretching—
Ahrend Torrey is the author of This Moment (Pinyon Publishing, 2024), If it's darkness we're having, let it be extravagant: The Jane Kenyon Erasure Poems (Pinyon Publishing, 2024), For What Are the Blossoms Reaching? (Limited Artist's Edition, American Academy of Bookbinding, 2023), Ripples (Pinyon Publishing, 2023), Bird City, American Eye (Pinyon Publishing, 2022), and Small Blue Harbor (Poetry Box Select, 2019). His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Denver Quarterly, Slippery Elm Literary Journal, storySouth, The Greensboro Review, The Westchester Review, Welter, and West Trade Review, among others. He lives in Chicago with his husband, Jonathan, their two rat terriers, Dichter and Dova, and Purl, their cat.