Prayer Palm Poem by Liilia Talts Morrison

A friend was fading with old age
whose potted palm had seen bright days
was now enmeshed with webs of time
that drag life down in slow malaise

She called one day and asked if I
would like a palm of goodly size;
at first I thought she said a 'poem'
but found instead a green surprise

Her vision was now blurred and dim
so when I brought this tall thin reed
into my home - at closer look
green aphids used it for their feed

'I pray for it, and for you too.'
Those words of hers still rang in me;
so I proceeded with much care
to wash all fungus from this tree

Though she is now in long term care
and no one knows just how or where
she lives, survives, or how she feels -
I know her prayers still fill the air

For this once thin and sickened plant
has grown in grace and leafy fronds;
as surely as this palm does thrive
I know God holds her in his bonds.