You ask for a poem by Brian Patten

You ask for a poem. 
I offer you a blade of grass. 
You say it is not good enough. 
You ask for a poem. 

I say this blade of grass will do. 
It has dressed itself in frost, 
It is more immediate 
Than any image of my making. 

You say it is not a poem, 
It is a blade of grass and grass 
Is not quite good enough. 
I offer you a blade of grass. 

You are indignant. 
You say it is too easy to offer grass. 
It is absurd. 
Anyone can offer a blade of grass. 

You ask for a poem. 
And so I write you a tragedy about 
How a blade of grass 
Becomes more and more difficult to offer, 

And about how as you grow older 
A blade of grass 
Becomes more difficult to accept.