Adorning Sentinels Poem by Thomas Plotz

I dreamt last night
That I was a deer in a field of corn,

On the north side, along the edge of the field
Stood four sunflowers, adorning sentinels

All were different
All were beautiful

The first sunflower, tall with big brown head and yellow petals
Then red petals one with multiple blackheads, little shorter
Next smaller yellow petals, with multiple blackheads
Last a tall single sunflower with red and yellow petals, reddish-brown head

Throughout the day, they would follow the sun
From east to west, till night had come
In the morning they would do it again, again and again

On cloudy days they would just look south
Almost like they could see somehow,
That the sun wasn't shining

When it rained they would hang their heads
To protect their growing seeds, the adorning sentinels

All were different
All were beautiful
All were LOVED

In the corn when the wind blew, sounds were known and shown,
As ghostly words of previously spoken thought…

On the north-eastern side of the field stood three kinds of trees

Oak
Cottonwood
Pine

I ask the trees one day
Why don't you grow on the west side of the field?
Answering they said - we would shade the field, most of the day and nothing would grow right,
I wasn't in the mood to argue with that logic, but thought to myself, what about the morning?

Then I returned to eating corn
Watching the sunflowers sentinels adorn, us

T. Plotz
Adorning Sentinels
22 December 2018