Crocuses

by jr paruolo
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"Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light." - Theodore Roethke
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The crocuses will appear again this year
just as they do every year - suddenly,
unexpectedly, cloistered among the exposed
rheumatoid roots of the ancient beech trees
that line the roadside edge of an abandoned estate
on the back road I take home each evening

For the greater part of the year
they exist in subterranean darkness,
meditating patiently beneath the ground -
like little Buddhas
Waiting to burst out of their bulbs
and expose their purple petaled flowers in prayer
at the appropriate time

And when I finally come upon them in bloom-
I am filled with the desire to stop
and lean against the decaying split rail fence
that separates them from the road
to quietly meditate for a while -
and enjoy this temporary
but beautiful oasis
set against a landscape of winter stasis

But Time says -No,
you have other places to go -

So, I continue on,
driving slowly,
for the next few miles -
trying to retain that imagery
permanently in memory-
telling myself I will stop the next time
But I never do

In a week or so they are gone -
And taking no time to mourn their loss
Nature begins her task
of rebuilding the world from scratch:
one flower,
one blade of grass,
one clutching vine at a time -
until this small patch of property
becomes just another ordinary way-point
of competing green foliage
along the roadside on the way home