For Sharon & Don

i

That hibiscus (kona,

DOUBLE PINK, a

yellow slip to say)

you gave us

works:

meaning you

gave it with

feelings hard to speak of, so

spoken of, and we took it, still

nothing to say. But

it's here by our bed

in a clay pot,

both blossoms

going fast now. Meaning

only, we

have it now, by

our bed, will

have it,

pinker yet for the wordlessness of

its going, and have you.

ii

What we have most's not

earned, 's given us

by some

grace; we

pick it up and read,

remember badly when the book's

away, but it was there

to hand, is to

mind, a way

made to take and

keep what we'd not thought

to ask, hibiscus.