An Incantation for Spring

A.C. Mapes
School of Medicine and Public Health
2022
Poem

 

Bloodroot, liverwort, wild ginger
serve as a salve, balm,
tonic, elixir.

Forget Wellbutrin, won’t take Effexor—
no chemical’ll solve a long,
harsh winter.

Sunshine brings a natural cure:
watch purple fists of rue-anemone
unfurl.

Bloodroot, liverwort, wild ginger
please be the salve, balm,
tonic, elixir.