and folded it down the middle.......

THISTLE

I report the presence of a thistle in our front yard
that happened to grow at the outer edge
of a Colorado Blue Spruce tree,
cozied right there next it, close enough that my
lawnmover will not harm it
because I do not want to damage
any of the branches of this tree that we call
the Hannah Dix memorial tree.

It was planted 23 years ago
when our first child, Hannah, was stillborn.

I rooted out the hole for the seedling
by shovel and by hand,
slow, to feel the soil,
and gently laid the small thing down
with a certain reverence
because of who it stood for,

and who it would live to stand for;
if
I planted it right, got it off to a good start
watered and protected it;
maybe.

Now, 23 years later,
A sentinel thistle
stands beside this tall tree,
a tree as regal and robust as Hannah might have been
but for a fluke that took our picture
of a perfect life
and folded it down the middle.

We framed the illusory thought anyway;
the crease is only that,
and cannot be denied;
a blooming thistle, contrary to some,
is pretty.

[David Dix 2006]
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