Founded in the fall of 1991, Laurel Moon is Brandeis' oldest, national literary publication. Each issue we publish features original work from undergraduate students.
The flowers run white with death.
But to a plant, dead flowers are only an insult.
The plant’s thirst keeps the flowers
among stale leaves.
It knew we had a tendency
to give too much, to not
let it live on its own.
The plant is a decayed fragrance. When it began
to open we thought it was reaching.
We thought it might flower again, but
“came back to death” is the sense we got.
The problem was in the roots. One doesn’t die
from the top down.
It came to us drowned.