Clipping Hydrangeas in Autumn
From the book Talking Underwater
When their clusters had risen white
and their edges flushed pink,
the hydrangeas hung like moons
in their leaves of yellow sky.
I climbed a tree of moons;
I clipped them free of time;
placed them in a vase.
They stayed white moons till Spring.
The ones left on the tree
turned the beige of human skin,
closed like human eyes:
a tree of sleeping eyes.