Persistence

You were the pack of dollar store flower seeds

I tenderly watered every day at noon

in your tiny terra-cotta pot that I painted bright yellow.

Everyone told me to give up,

that nothing like that could ever blossom.

Just when I began to think they were right,

that nothing I did would make you bloom,

a tiny sprout broke through the nutrient-rich soil

climbing higher and higher until a single,

stunning orchid stood to greet me.

And I beamed back at you, as though the sun herself

had made a home right there beneath my skin