The Glass Vase

The Glass Vase

the glass vase reappeared today on my front porch
after an extended visit at the neighbor’s house.
once full of brilliant, erect roses, emanating the sweet
perfume of summer sun, I watched over several
days as the blossoms drooped, each petal falling,
to decorate the dark-grained wood of their antique coffee table,
as if to count off the days of their absence in a far-off land,
their daughter riding bareback to meet her fiancé
in an elaborate Moroccan ceremony.
a fountain of flowers arrived on my porch today
in that same glass vase, a spray of pastel cosmos,
flowers which do not grow in my garden.
(did they know of this terrible lack of cosmos,
perhaps sneaking into my garden while I was away?)
the blossoms will droop, the pedals will fall,
the vase will be filled again with
whatever is blooming in my garden ,
I will quietly unlatch their gate
and leave my flowers on
their front porch in the
same simple
glass vase.