The Azaleas She Never Saw

I planted azaleas by the window for her hands to hold

A promise in the soil, a small bright flame against the cold

She said, one day when the petals open, take me to the light

But pain had made her a room of winter and her body froze

Fight the night

She lay there counting hours

Listening to the house breathe low

Each step I took was softer

Like a prayer she′d never know

The roots kept learning morning

The buds kept waking up above

While I carried all her longing like a cup too full of love

Mother, they bloomed when you were gone

Those azaleas burned on without you till dawn

I brought their color to your door, but it was too late to see

Now every crimson flower is a wound in need

The last wish you gave was simple, just to rest beneath the trees

To watch the petals open in the wind and let you breathe

Where suffering held you captive and the days went wide and thin

I watched the garden become a spring you could not step in

Mother, they blew when you were gone

Those azaleas burned on without you till dawn

I brought their color to your door

But it was too late to see it

Now every crimson flower is a wound

So I stand where you once dreamed

In the hush you left behind

The bloom arrives like mercy

But it cannot change my mind

You never saw the azaleas

But I still tend them in your name

And every petal feels like love

That learned to live with pain