Wood Violets by Shelly Lyons ………… North Carolina
last summer I rescued
these babies from a bed
I was being paid to weed,
which once again perplexed me-
how could someone
consider these beauties weeds?
not want green hearts and
purple flowers in her bed
of catnip and irises
under the pink crepe myrtle?
I brought them home
thrown haphazardly into
my 5-gallon Lowes weeding bucket
a tangle of dirt, roots, leaves and blooms,
I hurriedly stuck them in any pot
on my deck with a little free dirt space,
bunking in with other saved plants –
a magnolia sapling, mint, irises,
7 months later,
I brought them home again
on a cool mid-March day
of on-and-off rain,
I gently pry them loose
from their apartment homes,
nestle them into sheltered shady spots
corners of garden beds,
in the shade of the AC unit,
next to my shed,
under the open sky,
with space to grow deep roots,
send out their rhizomes,
and spread their seeds
to their little dark green hearts’ content
here in their forever home
surrounding mine.
by Shelly J Lyons 4/10/26