Hello Again, Heart
A Response to the Haiku This Prompt “Roots”
When my parents died
I cried till I realized
They were still insideThe dark and the light
Fighting in my DNA
Etching out my life
The back story: When my mother died 16 years ago, someone gave me a peace lily plant; when my father died a year later, I was given another. I am generally good at keeping plants alive and these two were symbolic, but my cats found them delicious and the peace lilies struggled. When they were down to nubs I pruned them, re-potted them, relocated them away from the cats, and waited. They died. It felt all too much like losing my parents again, and I was too sad to do anything but leave the pot of dirt where it sat. Nine months later (because you can’t make that up), the plants re-sprouted, and every day they grow bigger. I await the flowers now.
