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Posts Tagged ‘snapdragon’

Snapdragons in Autumn

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on November 3, 2025| 4 Comments »


 
 
They no longer bloom,
but the snapdragons bring
an extravagance of dark green
to the garden otherwise bare.
I almost missed this pleasure,
poised as I was to rip them
from the soil when frost took
all the flowers. But there
is something past bloom
in me that thrills now
to see them there, growing
for the sake of growing,
tall and fully leafed out. Grow
while you can, they seem to say.
Until it’s all over, don’t you
ever stop with your growing.

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Autumn in the Garden

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on October 12, 2023| 6 Comments »

Though the garden wears mostly brown leaves
and dried vines, though the stems
of the sunflowers are brittle and broken and bent,
though frost has taken nearly every living thing,
the snapdragons still bloom, scarlet flags of persistence,
their heads deep red, their petals still soft,
and I know it won’t last forever,
but for now, they resist what is cold, what is dark,
and I, while I can, I want to be snapdragon,
want to bring to this life all the beauty I can muster,
even when it’s dire, and give it all away.

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Dignity

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , on June 1, 2020| 2 Comments »

 

 

 

After the frost, the snapdragons remain standing.

They didn’t change colors the way the basil did.

 

Didn’t shrivel and flag like the beans.

They met the cold affront with beauty,

 

and a week later, they still stand, erect,

blossoms only slightly faded.

 

What an astonishing way

to meet an almost invincible force.

 

Even now, at the base of the lifeless stems,

tiny green leaves appear from the roots.

 

They insist, This isn’t over yet.

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Deciding to Sometimes Practice Being Snapdragon

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on September 16, 2017| Leave a Comment »

 

 

All morning, I make myself useful—

mow the lawn and vacuum

the carpet and scrub the potatoes

and slice the melon and straighten

the shelves and look out the window

and see the snapdragons I planted

last spring not because they were useful,

but because they are so beautiful.

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