Sweet Slips
Free verse
Published in
Jan 18, 2021
One of the leaves is pinkening
On my honeysuckle child
Such a lovely word
I wish I’d made it up
Stolen a cutting
from pink, from quicken
Put them in a jar
Added a teaspoon of soil each day
To prevent relocation trauma
A sign of my age perhaps
This need to create
Words and plants
To nurture from nothing
To care and caress
To both tinker and to watch
My children growing
As no more will come
Or not until every twist
…………………. and knot of youth
has been explored
I hope
Then my flowers might blossom
For now, they grow slender tall
But each with just one limb
And a leaf ripening in delicate pink
