The violets in the backyard were blooming today. I haven’t mown yet this spring so they were tall enough for a bouquet. I carefully picked a handful and gently tied a fescue blade around the stems.
I walked up the hillside to where my heart is buried. As twilight deepened toward night, I laid the violets on his grave, then sat beside him to watch stars appear as the sky darkened.
I remembered him fussing when I let violets grow in front of the porch, his complaints about “vines.” After he learned that violets don’t vine and they have dark purple blooms, he ceased complaints and enjoyed their blooms and lush foliage.
Purple and red blooms were what he liked. Dark purple violets and crocuses, red tulips.
I have tried to get violets to grow on his grave, but they succumb to the heat of summer, as the hillside here is in full sun all afternoon.
So, I brought him a bouquet today. Purple violets from our yard. Gathered tenderly so I wouldn’t bruise the blooms. Carried cupped in my hand so the fragile bouquet would stay intact.
They will be wilted by morning, perhaps scattered by some woodland creature. I know they won’t last a day, but my love for him will last until the end of my days.
I walked up the hillside to where my heart is buried. As twilight deepened toward night, I laid the violets on his grave, then sat beside him to watch stars appear as the sky darkened.
I remembered him fussing when I let violets grow in front of the porch, his complaints about “vines.” After he learned that violets don’t vine and they have dark purple blooms, he ceased complaints and enjoyed their blooms and lush foliage.
Purple and red blooms were what he liked. Dark purple violets and crocuses, red tulips.
I have tried to get violets to grow on his grave, but they succumb to the heat of summer, as the hillside here is in full sun all afternoon.
So, I brought him a bouquet today. Purple violets from our yard. Gathered tenderly so I wouldn’t bruise the blooms. Carried cupped in my hand so the fragile bouquet would stay intact.
They will be wilted by morning, perhaps scattered by some woodland creature. I know they won’t last a day, but my love for him will last until the end of my days.
