orchid

Your accountant
brought an orchid
The day you died
He offered food
But we had plenty of
food in this house

So the orchid posed
with pictures of you
The time you met your
granddaughter
The time you held
your son

The first blossom slowly
opened
Then rapidly, the rest
Stretched into the room
Where we listened to
your death rattle
Your final peaceful
hours

I kept the soil damp
For lack of direction
The orchid started
shedding
We returned home to find its
petals
Scattered across the mantel

We woke early Sunday
morning
My brother and his wife
and I
The last orchid blossom
Self-soothing
petals curled inward

And the clouds
Refused to burn off by
noon
They lingered through
the afternoon
I kept the lights on in the
living room
And drank myself to
sleep