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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