My zinnias are bursts
of radiance bolts of joy magenta
and orange and sunlight they never
failed me all summer when I lived
in the beige and pain of rehab they
kept alive in the big ignored pot on the
driveway thank you zinnias thank you
for giving me so much joy for
letting me know brilliance was not
dead even in the heat and throes of
suffering there you were growing
longer leggier spilling out of the pot
to trail on the ground and even now
in autumn the tight little buds
continue to form at the leafy nodes
may you celebrate all the way to winter
