Ελευθερόκοκκοι

And I will establish my convenant with thee,
and thou shalt enter into the ark...

Ελευθερόκοκκοι, you too belong to
Life’s garden full of thorny Greek cadence.
Enthralling sunlight, your shade’s a song to
Undo winter’s cruel doing. What radiance
Then hides beneath your shadow-arching stems?
Here, world in seed, your berry’s pithy husk
Eventually drowns in soil or, starving, trims
Relevant thorns to take the soul to task:

Old Noah knew his flooded flight from sin
Contingent on the ark-built indwelling
Of seasons. Other men became their own
Coffined coffers – their own fruit bore them down;
Concluding pride with radiance swelling
Into cataracts, man's grief wept like rain.