water among the stones 101
xvii
yucca whipplei
This big capsule
I plucked green
reaching high
along the stalk
late this spring,
and week by week
let it brown,
and wither, and crack.
Pick it up
and shake it now --
Cha cha it
whispers here
in my study
Cha cha
Cha. Faithful,
dry, and shy
sound of the promise
of Yucca whipplei,
calm presence
sending high,
out of its fi erce
tipped-with-spines
rosette of blades,
that stout stem
tapering green
above boulders,
in dry gulches,
in strong sun
on stony slopes,
breaking out
its white blossoms,
a great cone of them,
curled and tumbled,