SHE RECEIVED another bouquet of flowers
along with a note—a declaration of love,
which she took with a familiar delight
at such affection people leave at her doorstep,
but it never made keeping them any easier.
Torn by their soft, delicate petals,
she hesitated
whether to put them in a vase or in the garden
before the leaves run dry,
so she could save them from the weeds, her hands.
