The Powerful Scent of Sampaguita
© by Emily P. Lawsin
These petals bloom poems only for you:
They carry the scent of my Lola
Who smuggled their seeds in her suitcase
Four generations ago,
Surviving the waves of the Pacific,
Packing only what she could carry.
Ignoring the weeping Washington winters,
She planted the sampaguita inside the belly of her hearth
For anak ng bayan — us, children of the land —
With high stakes, but no borders:
Only deep, brown roots of love.
*
You can choose to desert, out of fear,
Her fragile flowers flickering on the fireplace,
Leaving her, lying dry and dormant in the dark.
You can break her branches until they bleed white,
Kiss the buds of neighboring thorn bushes,
Snip her dead vines that cascade like a bouquet of tears,
Yet sing a spray of songs through summer,
And her heart shaped leaves of fragrance,
Anchored by one leg of bamboo or flying free,
Will still dance, grow, and blossom
Ten times stronger than ever before.
* * *
Friday, August 6, 2004
Detroit
