Return to Wonder by Shauna Singh Baldwin

In spring
I return to wonder	
as a camel calls upon
water from its hump,

I return to wonder	
carving it	
from emaciated air
inducing it—	

not from the
rubbing of genie lamps,
the recitation of wishes,
puffs of smoke,
the palming of cards,

but from irises
pushing up in their patch,
bursting through soil,
valiant purple.

I return to wonder	
snatching it 
from the press of should-dos 
distilling it
from the tug
of schedule and event
to my involuntary present.

Without wonder
I might bear winter	
in me always

Then
there might be
nothing to admire

beyond my own being.

So in spring,
I return to wonder.

~ from Red Silk, An Anthology of South Asian 
Canadian Women Poets (Mansfield Press, 2004)
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Return to Wonder by Shauna Singh Baldwin

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