No matter how we try

Photo credit - Lee (mostly the resilient azalea)

No matter
how we try
to fence it in, 

Hope 
will find a gap
and bloom again. 

So hoe the garden
clean of  
weedy trash, 

sow the seeds
of kindness 
and compassion, 

wet the roots
with empathy
and listening, 

warm the shoots 
with wonder,
myth and whimsy, 

feed the buds
with love 
and gratitude,  

and spring 
will yield
a living cache of blooms 

that bring
the other colors
to the scene  

besides
the bloody red
and greedy green. 

If we can 
live within
the love we make, 

a single
stubborn bud
is all it takes 

to launch
a little seed
into a wind 

that carries it
aloft 
to start again. 

Every day, 
and any
given eve, 

the fragrances
can grace
and never leave, 

if in a world 
of fences, 
grit and grime, 

we brighten it,
one flower 
at a time. 

Lee DeNoya - Atlanta, Christmas Eve 2021