A Promise of Orchids

A Promise of Orchids

Today, there are no other footprints
but my own, the long sand stippled
with raindrops. The ocean's slow edge
is smooth with foam, hissing faintly
as the bubbles break, and the backsurge
rushes under. From here, my way leads
over granite, to where the peppermints
arch over, backlit and shimmering,
and the gnarled torsos of Nuytsias
silhouette themselves. The path will be
spangled with sundews, bladderworts,
blushing, puppet-mouthed, heedless insects
beheld through slits in geckos' eyes.
There may yet be signs of the season's
first snakes, and in those single, scrolled
and fleshy leaves, a promise of orchids.

Poem by Giles Watson, 2015.