Wilt Thou Flourish?
©Mary 19th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
I wilt in Winter.
When darkness tautens
Around my neck
Like a noose of gloom,
In the dead of December,
I wilt, desolate, disconsolate.
Despair and sadness, twin tight
Bands, constrict my heart.
Everything seems pointless.
Then, I breathe deeply
Watch snowflakes fall like dreams
Observe their beauty, console myself,
Remind myself that Spring
Will come again, and I must sing.
Singing, I will herald her coming.
I sing of Spring as she approaches.
And watch tender leaves glow rich green
And ferns unroll themselves
Unwrapping themselves like gifts
And watch my crocuses and daffodils
And hyacinths and narcissus
And tulips poke out one by one,
Perfect but oh, so short-lived!
And lilacs like pale dreams haunt the air
And perfume it so sweetly, I could swoon
From the lust and lucency of it all.
When Summer flowers tease bees
Into drunken ecstasy, they weave
Unsteadily through the air, humming
Sipping at the rich moisture
Of my plants, when I water them
Thirsty and grateful they are,
So why would they ever sting?
Sunstruck and dizzy, I keep cool,
Sipping water with lemons,
And I sing with the bees.
And hum in Summer.
But when the year tilts away
From the sun, warming her back,
It is then that my garden yields her store –
Burgeoning beans and basil,
And peapods bursting at the seams,
And pumpkins and squash trailing downhill.
Tomatoes ripening like voluptuous women
And taut eggplants tantalizing me with glowing purple,
And tricky green peppers beckoning me closer
And roses blooming unashamedly
And sunflowers yearning towards the sun
And it is in the Fall that things flourish,
And it is then that I flourish.
A creature of the seasons,
An accidental human, I.
But from wilting to flourishing,
I follow the Earth, and time
Swallows its own tail,
And eternity repeats its mantra:
Wilt and die, and grow and flourish
Over, and over, and over again.
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In response to The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt: Flourish