April is National Poetry Month! "Papyrus"

Just for a change of pace, here is an old one from me.


Papyrus

You, my lovely jungle by the window,
Are solitude and safety, and I love
Your life and color and your beautiful
And patterned death that creeps in mottled brown
Along your green leaves, ends dry in the sun
(Which shines through glass and from the mirroring
Of water—not your river, but one sip—
That's laced with failing stems; those fallen sprouts,
Among your roots, within your urn, have now
Still what you gave them when you tried to grow).