Rose and Iris

They loved their garden;

Mother and Daughter would spend

Hours in the sun.

Behind their house was

Green dotted with red, yellow,

Pink and countless more.

Mother loved roses;

Daughter preferred irises.

They planted with care.

They watched the sun rise

While blowing dandelions,

And mimicked at dusk.

Their birdbaths brought in

Winged visitors who were

Greeted with bird seed.

All meals were eaten

On a polka-dot blanket;

Nothing but home-cooked.

Catching butterflies,

Looking for funny-shaped clouds,

Climbing the oak tree.

They ran, danced and sang,

Never tiring of their

Love for each other.

Daughter did not think

That her days with Mother would

Ever reach an end.

When the doorbell rang,

And Mother answered the door,

Daughter heard her scream.

"I want to see her,"

Said the angry man outside,

Firearm in hand.

Fits of drunken rage,

Screams, scars, curses and regrets

Ran through Mother's mind.

She slammed the door shut,

Returned to the garden and

Squeezed her child's hand.

He leaped past the fence,

Demanded to see Daughter,

Eyes full of cold hate.

He who left Mother

With a child and no home

Took aim and fired.

Red spilled onto green,

Both being sprinkled with tears

From Daughter's wide eyes.

He took hold of her,

Only she would not leave her

Mother's lifeless side.

She flailed all about,

Drawing curse words from the man

Who dragged her away.

He did not witness

Red soaking into green and

Strengthening the plants.

He gasped when the vines

Pulled the gun out of his hand

And opened fire.

"No one will take her",

Rang Mother's voice as ivy

Domed the whole garden.

From the soil rose

Dirt body, rose eyes, vine hair,

And mother's kind words.

"I will never leave",

She said, giving an iris

To her smiling girl.

Mother and Daughter

Were never separated

By anything else.