"Hellebores" by Joseph Geskey

I believe without belief,
in the stubbornness of hellebore roots
digging deeper into the soil
instead of surrendering their position.
Nectar in their veins for pollinators
and defenders, they have outlasted
fallen empires. One origin story
is they arose from the charity of angels—
allowing a poor shepherdess
to give a gift when visiting baby Jesus.
Raised under gospels and homilies
of how to live, a half-century spent
listening to the faithful ring of church bells,
I believe in the Sunday morning glands
of nectaries, walking these late winter
landscapes we will eventually enter,
more than the men living in rectories.