Hibiscus Love

I’m trying to be more

like my hibiscus bush

which doesn’t seem to care

If there’s sun or rain

or anyone around to notice it…

It apparently cares only for creating

ruffled scarlet blooms

of astonishing beauty

that live only for a day

then quietly wither and fade away…

I, being human and more demanding,

want to know the point of it all—

this ceaseless coming and going

this risk of blooming unseen

this too-brief beauty and sudden death…

I ask the hibiscus bush

but she doesn’t answer.

She only offers me

another scarlet treasure

as if that’s answer enough…

And somehow, it is.

Endangered Species