At the Time of Peony Blossoming

American|Robert Bly

When I come near the red peony flower

I tremble as water does near thunder,

As the well does when the plates of earth move,

Or the tree when fifty birds leave at once.

The peony says that we have been given a gift,

And it is not the gift of this world.

Behind the leaves of the peony

There is a world still darker, that feed many.