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<\/a><\/p>\nStart with the smallest seeds.
\nThe kind where few can thrive
\nSome soil well-prepared,
\nplus windows full of sun,
\nAnd last for those who care
\nA lifetime made of dreams
\nWet soil urged the seedlings up
\nBursting to the light
\nGreen and lanky, yearning to grow
\nThey battled for life and significance.
\nLeaves followed, then retreated
\nMaking room for small and desperate blooms.
\nThey soon outgrew their sheltered space.
\nSo came the day of moving.
\nThey panicked then,
\nbut had to leave the safety of the known. <\/p>\n
Some found homes in larger pots Only the potted forget-me-nots held on. In the frozen waste of January only one survived. But the conditions didn\u2019t come.<\/a><\/p>\n
\nSome in sunlit gardens.
\nBut those stems they had
\nwere too long, too thin.
\nThey had placed their hope
\nin a few flowers and no roots.
\nThe summer heat roasted the weakest plans,
\nAnd rabbits ate up the rest.
\nIn two short days the winter promise
\ndied in the blistering summer<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWith large leaves and no blooms
\nthey resisted the urge to grow fast and flashy.
\nThey stayed close to the ground,
\nheld onto their leaves,
\ndevoted to permanence once established,
\nthey clung to life.
\nAfter the devastations of the summer,
\nthey fled the unknown hazards.
\nSafe at home once more,
\nand growing bit by bit.
\nNourished so carefully,
\nthey survived too anxious attentions
\nAnd some serious neglect.
\nThey were forgotten at Christmas
\nAnd most died,
\nBitter they had not grown fast enough.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nWhen large summer leaves died back
\nthis plant sent new leaves.
\nNew hopes for life and growth.
\nSmall it was, small as the seedling a year before.
\nBut it clung on.
\nDrinking in the water
\nTolerating all the cold.
\nMonth by month
\nLeaves grew out,
\nand died back.
\nBeaten back by elements,
\nno longer did it try to attack the sky,
\nit survived by delaying lofty goals
\nSaving them in memory
\nUntil the conditions were right.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThe leaves grew slower then they died.
\nThe plant withered.
\nSpring came breaking back,
\nFighting through the late season snow.
\nThe world began to green again,
\nbut the flower had forgot.
\nIt forgot the dream of sunshine and light
\nOf flowers bursting into life
\nWithout the dream
\nthe last green leaves lost their way
\nand so faded…
\nBack to the dust…
\nnothing but an empty pot.<\/p>\n<\/a>…
\nBut I remember,
\nthe promise of a winter night,
\nof future sundry summers.
\nAnd I will not forget
\nthe lofty dreams the seedlings lost,
\nand my errors as a gardener here.
\nI failed to fix a broken heart
\nand raise a healthy plant that knew
\nthe hope it held within.<\/p>\n