The Aloe Plant She Gave Me

Has been returned to Mother Earth
So she can truly thrive...

As with our friendship
I wanted and tried to tend to it
But in truth, it is my job
To let it go...

Succulents survive
In even the most depleted soil,
As true to the form of the friend who I betrayed...
In my midst it developed
A little baby girl like hers...

I care so deeply...

It was too crowded for
The little aloe family
In that red clay pot...
Or perhaps I simply
Did not have the heart
To tend to them, when my own
Still bleeds
Each time I sprinkle water...

Dirt beneath my fingernails
I have asked the Earth to nurture them
The way I ask the heavens for the same
For those lost friends of mine
Every blessed day....

They exist in community now
Among various species of cacti
At a center for the needy
Where they will be tended to
And simultenously
Left to nature...