the GoodHost

to my dear friend Kayoko, whose birthday was yesterday...

A tart smell

of
age and
pretty dresses
as she walks
into the
room
abandoning
for only A Moment
those at home

they need her
After All, leaving

them to
fend
forthemselves for
a
couple of hours,

she comes for
tea
and Conversation,
"Have you heard?"
she doesn't see the flowers
stem ends

pierced
by plastic

and soaked
in dirty water --

when she does finally
she tones silently
How
Pretty! they are --

"Such a Shame,
that boy,
what
a
Bright Young Man
he was becoming,"
sipping her tea&Conversation
with the nod of
her host

a neighbor,
a neighbor-hood-equal,
smelling older, who
cannot Afford
to
leave
the house

"And
How Is
your
husband?"

a carnation
wilts slightly,
almost but not
quite imperceptibly,
nods with
the host,
nods
to sleep
to death

"Yes..."

a pair of
swallows
skirt by the window
and
land for a
moment's gaze inwards

the host, as she is
a GoodHost
draws the
curtain over
the
outside

"Well, it's
Time to return.
They need
me after all" --

she hardly
notices
the
dandelion
she steps on
on her
way out the
front gate.

Inside
the arrangement
bends forward, bows
down
betrays itself
and the GoodHost
with
dew tears,

a Couple of Hours

After All,

is an eternity

for flowers.