From the first bloom of the showiest flower
Come the seeds for all varieties and colours of love.

The big blooms of the sunniest days
Which, like day-lilies, litter the ground tomorrow;
Those that cling to the earth through the fiercest gale;
The tiny rock scrabble bud
That only appears on the darkest night in the dead of winter.

And the other one, that blooms underground forever
That you only find by digging deep and being still;
And even then you cannot hold it in your hands
But only breathe its fragrance.

© 2001 Heather Holm