Mom's Spider Plant

When I think of sweet mom,

I see her smile,

I hear her words, as she lay dying

when I told her, ‘I think of you all the time’,

and she replied, ‘I think of you too ~

Son shine.’

 Gone for decades now

in body but not in spirit.

Not in spider plants, either!

I have several in pots, all from

cuttings from your garden

and I have planted them in all

the places where I have lived,

and given them as gifts …

mom you are everywhere

I have been

You’re part of everything

I have done

your kindness

your generosity

your strength

and toughness, too,

your acceptance

and forgiveness, as well ~

Your delight in crafts and color

your love of flowers and plants

your place in the garden

which when poets and others

try to describe heaven or

yearn for a lofty paradise

need look no further

than a garden full of color

whether on a deck or patio

or in the ground or

an entire verdant south forty,

or a single pot …

a spider plant spilling over 

the lip of its ceramic pot

curving leaves, graceful stems

reaching out beyond itself

draping beauty

far from its roots

lush and lovely

calling wherever it rests,

wherever it grows,

home.

 This too

I learned

from you.

~