Beans and Dreams

Jack’s bean sprouted
with a POP
and grew and grew
until it topped
the highest cloud,
then went
beyond,
as if the plant
was Heaven bound. 

His mother vexed
her last coins spent
on such a worthless
dream,
but when she saw
the giant stalk
that streamed,
beyond her vision’s
reach,
she wondered
what her son
had done. 

He disappeared
that night
in hope to
reach new worlds
beyond.
His simple days,
impoverished ways,
all vanished as he
climbed. 

Higher, higher, and then
still higher,
he stepped into
Unknown.
He climbed so high,
when looking down,
he feared that
he might die. 

The stalk threw stems
like giant beds
that fed his every step
as higher, higher,
fed by desire,

he finally poked his head
into a world of
gigantic gain,
a world so contrast
to his plane,
he shook his head,
he rubbed his eyes,

 Was this a dream?
Was this a prize? 

A goose broke
with a cluck,
his brief, sweet reverie.
He toppled off his
broad-stemmed leaf
and fell
beyond
the tree.

Poem by Laura Richardson
“A Seed Forever Changed” Original Mezzotint by Sir Roland Richardson