The Vase 

“For beauty, three things are required: wholeness, harmony, and clarity.” - St. Thomas Aquinas 

the vase held in your hands brown & slender 

was milk glass 

was the neck of the iris bent toward light 

but lacking the pulse of cells 

was beach street 

in its last season of honeysuckle 

& strawberry knees 

was the soft back of a swan 

held at gunpoint 

held water like a lake holds stillness 

held peonies like yellow butter 

that would have been perfect 

if not for the ants black & greedy 

drinking from their opulent vascular cores 

slinking into the folds of your shirtsleeves 

the vase held in your hands 

held the expectation of beauty

held its own slender vein of breaking