I planted pentas today...
clusters of gorgeous, tiny stars
shimmering by the dozens...
like my days with you

with their sparkling eyes
and standing up so proud
like they do
and being so bright and bursting with life,
they command attention; they get noticed
even in the garden that is already
packed with pretty little things--
again I thought of you...

As I backed away, smiling soul deep
at the sassy way they sway without any wind,
their perky buds so high and tight,
their flowers in magic triangles at the tops
of slim, sleek stalks, so strong and shapely,
like the legs of girls who like to run,
I stopped suddenly.

Drawn back across the garden right past a hibiscus bush,
loaded with luscious peach blossoms
offered like the babes on a cheerleading squad,
I couldn't take my eyes off the
crystal colors in the corner.

Ignoring all the work I really had to do,
and dismissing other distractions like nuisance gnats,
and stumbling forward into a swamp that I thought I knew,
but disoriented, in a daze at the whiff of personality
the pentas' perfumes overwhelmed me with,
I forgot to smile in spite of my happiness,
so intent was I to touch them.

And I did.