A PRIMROSE PATH DIALOGUE (Conversations with Stick Series #8)

A PRIMROSE PATH DIALOGUE

There is no primrose path to paradise, Stick.
No, not sunshine yellow in mid-morning heat.

I am specially drawn to the bramble trail
of an endless desert. There is challenge there.

But look, the primrose stigma casts claw-shaped
shadows. Beware the simple; peril lurks there.

When the sun climbs, these claws disappear,
not unlike the oasis of a desert mirage. It’s not there.

Shall I walk then through this garden of primroses?
Nothing stirs here except the glare of buttercups.

Little wonder then that primrose paths are yellow:
Easy, smooth, untrammeled. Much travelled, too?

It is the coward’s way, Stick. No pain, no gain.
Huh? Why groan then? Why call our trek a real pain?

Shut up, Stick. Follow the primrose path of sunshine.
Huh? Why? Who said a ball of Jell-o is coloured yellow?

—Albert B. Casuga
06-08-11

Prompt: Evening primroses in the mid-morning heat: so yellow! As the sun climbs, the stigmas slowly retract their claw-shaped shadows.---Dave Bonta, The Morning Porch, 06-08-11