African Violets
Long, long ago
in my mother's house
African violets
were strangely flourishing,
though most people
watched theirs wither and
lose faith in ever being
understood by mortal man
or woman.
My mother was very good at
"benign neglect;"
(Perhaps I should call it
Divine neglect.)
Flowers found her kindness,
her whenever-she-thought-of-it waterings,
never too soon, nor too late.
Mostly I'm sure they
did appreciate, she had read
somewhere, these tender violets,
being tropical plants,
must be given warm water in a dish
underneath the pot,
where through the hole at the bottom
the flowers would suck up the water gently,
at their own pace.
That was my mother,
not too careless, or too close;
a pervasive negativity
could be shattered by a flower
or a smile....
rc
Long, long ago
in my mother's house
African violets
were strangely flourishing,
though most people
watched theirs wither and
lose faith in ever being
understood by mortal man
or woman.
My mother was very good at
"benign neglect;"
(Perhaps I should call it
Divine neglect.)
Flowers found her kindness,
her whenever-she-thought-of-it waterings,
never too soon, nor too late.
Mostly I'm sure they
did appreciate, she had read
somewhere, these tender violets,
being tropical plants,
must be given warm water in a dish
underneath the pot,
where through the hole at the bottom
the flowers would suck up the water gently,
at their own pace.
That was my mother,
not too careless, or too close;
a pervasive negativity
could be shattered by a flower
or a smile....
rc
