Pink and White

Peonies are the only flower I care for
and when I saw them from the window
yesterday, tumbled and heavy along a fence, fully exploded,
nodding at the ground, hanging their heads but not
yet spoiled,I remembered
a summer (maybe seven years
ago or was it ten?) I wasn't sure
our love would come again,and
here I am, almost

kissing the grass like that,
bursting and rich, cracked
all over like broken cake,
makes you cry but still sweet.

Deborah Garrison
Second Child