2007/sick

Still sick, I begin the process
of moving plants the cold
has killed out of sight.
All this death is depressing.
Re-iterated nightly with
the dire news of crop loss.
Avocados. Citrus. Cut flowers.
In the billions across the county
and state.
I guess I’m supposed to feel lucky
it hasn’t cost my livelihood.
But the fucshias I’ve nurtured
through summers they’re not
meant to survive
are all probably lost.
I can’t stand to go outside
and see them in their drooping
despair.
Nurserymen say don’t cut back
yet, it’s hard to wait.
I could put them in the trash,
but I want to give them one
last chance to sprout.
Still sick, I begin the process
of shifting the death out of sight
and bring one pot of daffodils,
eight inches high already,
to the back deck
so I can watch them bud
and bloom.

1/22/07