Twixt and between
Twist and turn
We TWINE together
As we have
SINCE the day we met

Georg’ann

Spring earth is MOIST, fresh.
The scent awakens my senses.
Having RISEN early for a walk,
there’s time before work
to move the misplaced clematis.
She grows rapidly.
Soon to be unwieldily,
tangled in various electrical LINES.

A few quick prods of the shovel,
and up comes the clump.
Deep rusty red-brown roots below
the flaking, woody growth.
Tender pink and green tendrils
emerging.
I place her next to the elderly honeysuckle,
imagining the pliable new vines
weaving through brittle old growth.

An intergenerational display,
each lending graceful blooms.
Clematis comes on quick, flashy.
Then leaves a purple mess, and gone.
Each year this maiden begins anew.
While the honeysuckle gives understated delight all summer,
bird shelter year round.

Caught in the tangle
is a tiny bit of cloth,
with a SINGE along the edge.
It’s been there SINCE before Eva left for college.
Standing here I wonder, am I
more trellis or aging vine.

Heather