Sunflowers Poem by James Fitzpatrick

The blackbirds swooped in their customary jealous way, the Robin
Chirped before leaving for another year, and I patted
The well fed brown clay with my muddy boats.
I remember planting her in the spring hush just after the flakes stopped,
sometime after a steamy breakfast.

The Summer came with a heavy warm whoosh, and with it arrived
Those two beautiful dark seedy eyes.
They belonged to a voluptuous red head, and she came with a beautiful
Lubricious body, and I sat with her as day became evening before we slept
Under a full moon, under a weary cherry blossom.

I remember leaves danced unknowingly
around my feet the Autumn morning her grey yellow hair Fell away,
and I cradled her as the winds took her final breathes.
I wished on each and every strand of stray lock, but there was little
I could do. She had waltzed her last, we would sleep once more, and then
I would bury her, but not another.

As a Winter evening chirped to the sound of a returning friend, I played with the
End of my old spade, and held her child gingerly in my hand.
I placed her where her mother lay after kissing her one last time. I could do no more now But pray. And so I did, while patting the brown clay with my muddy boots.
Then I slept….

James Fitzpatrick