Trilliums and Ants
Long after painted trilliums have folded flowers,
after their leaves have grown
autumn weary, they berry red fruit that ants steal
underground where they gorge on
the elaiosome, abandoning remnant seeds to
the colony’s garbage pile, except, come
spring, this waste of stolen seed germinates from
anthills, rare trilliums again growing
until seven years after birth, white three-leaved flags
unfurl into blossom.
Sean Prentiss is the author of Finding Abbey: the Search for Edward Abbey and His Hidden Desert Grave, which won the National Outdoor Book Award. Read more.