Gardener

She raised me from a bean stalk.

Little toes and eyes

the size of pennies

stared up at this woman

in a hospital bed.

She wasn’t around all the time

but instead worked 12 hours shifts

at the hospital

to make sure my brother and I ate that night.

She dealt with a lot of crap.

A dad who doesn’t know

when the quite the bottle

and a world bent on destroying her,

she kept her head up.

finally, she left and took us with

quick to a new state

with a new house and street.

She met a man who held her hand softly.

gave her flowers in the daytime

and kisses in the nighttime.

Something beautiful

grew in that house

and she was the gardener.