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Guess no one much visits this lonely corner of JPF. Ah, well, for what it's worth:

Empty Flowers

It was first pansies
that I set to earth,
yellow and violet to
adorn the stone;
but they seemed lonely
by themselves,
so I gave them friends,
daffodil and daisies,
to keep you company.

I worried that you’d
miss your roses,
so I planted them as well,
deep crimson and pearl white
growing tall beside
the statue of the laughing girl
with her watering can,
where I thought
you’d see them best.

I built the arbor
I always promised,
and let the wisteria’s
soft blues and pinks
climb and weave their way
through the lattice;
reaching for the heavens,
they bow yet before you.

I added lilacs though
you never cared for them,
because the purple
reminds me of your eyes;
then I planted sunflowers,
because they always
made you smile.

From seed, bulb and bud,
this garden I grew and grow,
tending each leaf and blossom
with purpose and passion;
all about you it has sprung
in infinite shades and hues,
a symphony of color
sounding of love and life
that sadly leaves me longing still.

Yet there are moments
when the sun hits just right
that I am taken beyond breath
by the beauty of my efforts,
and am struck by the irony:

I never liked flowers,
and never understood the hours
you spent in your garden—
planting and pruning;
watering and weeding.
I would find myself
watching from our place
on the porch exasperated,
wondering when you’d ever leave it
to come sit beside me.

So how is it now
that I can’t pass a nursery
without buying a flat
of impatiens or marigolds;
that I wake in the night
and fret the weather;
that I wake in the morn
and curse the deer that snacked
so delightedly on the begonias;
that I stand for hours
admiring our neighbor’s beds,
and chastise myself
for not doing more.

When the sun shines,
I am on my knees in the soil
from first to last light,
as content as I can be.
And on rainy days,
I sit on the porch with my coffee,
and stare endlessly at the blooms,
this memorial I have created.

In a way, nothing has changed:
I still spend hours gazing
at you in your garden—
though I know now
you will never again leave it
to sit beside me.

(c) DJ Lekich 2014

No one?!

I'm here reading every day...

Beautiful poem , the "you" at the end of the first verse confused me a bit, though.

It just takes more folks posting for it to pick up again.. I am waiting for some good short stories. I was never a big poetry fan.

Thanks Ulliel and Brian for the comments. It was a poor choice of words--"no one much visits". A lot of folks seem to pop in to take a look--which is great--but not a lot of new posts--which is, well, not so great. This website as a whole is more dedicated to music, so I get the lesser activity on this forum. But there are a lot of talented folks on this board as a whole, so I'm surprised there's not more activity here--and that's really all I meant.

I used to post poems a few years back on a now defunct site. While it was great to get feedback on poems I wrote, it was even more fun to read the creative efforts of others. So here's hoping this forum picks up more steam. I haven't penned anything recently--as I've been trying more to write song lyrics of late (emphasis on "trying"). But I'll post some old stuff from time to time.

Thanks to you both for chiming in!

Best regards,

Deej

good place for me, I like it all..poetry, free verse, and short stories Dee thats a beautiful poem I might add. I`ll post a couple of things and hope for the best....lol

Thanks, lane, for the feedback. Nice of you to say.

Deej