Calendula officinalis

Calendula officinalis

 

my car slowed in traffic

i glance curbside where a thin woman in black sketchers

totters toward something outside the antique store

her wiry hair pluming out from beneath a lopsided hat of straw

she stoops beside a single orange flower

and lifts it gently from beneath cradling it with

such intimate affection i feel as though i should look away

but my eyes remain on the petals she has graced

even when the car in front of me begins to drive ahead 

i watch

and as she reaches toward another i am overcome with a longing

to be touched as if when newly born

seen and celebrated

 

oh that we were all so treasured as those healing

blooms

 

ls

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