Putting the Amaryllis Back in the Earth

by Margaret Blackstone

The amaryllis by the grave became unearthed,
But this is the unconscious raving of a dream
Inspired by the delicate lines and pink whites
Of my son’s fine drawing displayed at school,
Called by others:
“Remarkable, exquisite, beyond his years,”
Powerful and frightening—the drawn flower
And the words.

The image of the dream
Unearths the flower,
As if it were as real as
My mother’s dead body months ago,
Awe inspiring,
A flower and a bulb,
To be replanted
To redress its roots in ground
And the delicacy of the petals’
Lines and flesh in air.

A drawing,
To be,
Perhaps,
Rerooted
In the dirt of the dying,
And grow again
Unheeding of graves, as real.

Published on November 1, 2019