Strong Flowers
I’m amazed we got that old rose bush to flower
after so many harsh seasons
and stressful transplants —
digging it up and putting it back down
multiple times
to have it freeze to the root in winter
and burn up in the summer sun;
And it suffered our neglect —
desperate for water
in the hard, cracked dirt
forgotten —
while we focused on newer ones.
There was nothing but a stem at one point —
or what looked like a twig stuck in an anthill.
I thought it would surely die;
But then I saw it up close while pulling weeds; I nearly mistook it for a dead sapling;
But there it was -
a hint of green at the base of a black thorn.
“I know you from somewhere…”
I lended a hand
and watered it when I could,
like you had.
And I’ll be damned if it didn’t grow and blossom,
many years after it last came out,
each bloom now worth five on…
