Helianthus

In a covert patch

Amongst cornfields

Flowers of radiant yellow

Turn buds skywards

Tracking the sun

From east to west

 

September

And yellow-rayed faces

Of fibonacci spirals

No longer teased

By bees

Face only east

 

They are short-lived

Growing heavy-headed

Threatened by the distant

Thrumming of birds

That swoop to pick

And scatter their seeds

 

Their wilted petals

Turn brown

Tattered

Withered

And fall

Detail from a painting by Vincent van Gogh of two cut sunflowers