These Marigolds, Care Poem by Dennis Ryan

Tuesday evening, Dec.1,2020 at 6: 30 p.m.
41 degrees Fahrenheit in Raleigh, North Carolina

"Deus caritas est"
--1 John 4: 8

It's time to rescue the marigolds
from winter's first hard frost;
the weather tonight will certainly
kill them if they don't find a way

inside from these front porch steps,
their orangish-yellow blossoms,
stems and leaves respiring together,
pumping the air full of oxygen

and hope— false hopes arise,
I think, reminded of my brothers
and sisters—I have no illusions,
lacking as they are in caritas.