The Poetry of Mark Daniel Milbocker 
Stem Stance

What holds a leaf
abroad and erect
to the sun and passers by?

What supports the
flower and its seed,
held up to the wind?

Why does it aspire,
or yearn or grow as if
to overcome?

Why do the rain drops
not crush and condemn
the tendrils' tenderness?

How can we look upon
those tall standings
and not question?

How do they fall
to the earth and
awake in time?

When the sprout
is young, does it
not apprehend
what is to come?

When the seeds 
have sprung, does
the tree not know
another spring won't come?

I was a child
but those days have passed;
I was a man
but too many winters have gone.

What holds the soul
abroad and erect
to the sun and passers by?
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©2009 Mark Daniel Milbocker  All rights reserved.