UNTENDED

 

Two years of an unappreciated garden

Now all gone to unremitting green and brown

How I long for reds and blues

The day sobs out for vibrancy

Need something rare as a hummingbird

Spotted without tear-stained spectacles

Porky-Pig-pink flowers reaching for the sun

But it all takes work

Fertilizer brings relief while wrecking aquifers

So sandy soil

Once the bottom of the Gulf

Holds out for salty seaweeds

Blooming algae

Leaving me a blistering memory

Of our once-fertile

Yet fantasy-driven

Love

Impatient for reality,

Should have known it would be

Achingly

Nutrient-poor

And empty…

 

© 2017 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)

IMAGE:  John Everett Millais – Ophelia