Sunday, October 13, 2013

The Forsythia - Original

The Forsythia

As I drive down the gray, misted street
towards my childhood home,
I am presented with a glorious
display of bright, yellow leaves.
Their tiny movements in the spring rain
radiate light even as the detritus of leftover
winter decay sits in and among the branches of the
forsythia.  A sign of re-birth:
the first phoenix of the year – spreading
wings of flame
to comfort and warm the dormant soul-
                  that was left to sleep over the long winter.

It was you who taught me to see this glimmer
of hope and light.
When I was a child, filled with questions
that I was still afraid to ask,
you, my mother, looked at me across the
aqua vinyl of my childhood classroom (my real classroom)
and saw my melancholy. The naïve
face of one who never thought there
could be evil in the world.
You told me to “look.”
and I did.

With a simple gesture, an act of noticing,
you taught me to notice as well.
And I will never forget to look for the
beacon -
                  even when my teacher is gone,
                  because you have planted the forsythia in my soul,
where it will thrive and grow

forever.

No comments:

Post a Comment