Emboldened by rare rain,
the agapanthus took over the garden
while we made sense of what
the doctors were telling us.
First came stately stems
topped by clusters of little lilies,
collaborating to create
something they could not do alone
For weeks, they stood at attention,
battalions of blue and white
defending the garden’s perimeter.
New blooms replaced the fallen
like replacements on a battleground.
We weren’t paying attention
when one or two started to lean,
parched by passionate heat,
top heavy with their own beauty.
And now dishevelment, the ranks
in disarray. Each cluster dragged down
swollen with the seeds that will replace it.
This morning, blue and white clash
like reckless armies, making us pause
to register our good fortune. Somehow,
we still stand, true to one another.
