Pink Lilies Poem by Suzanne Hayasaki

Pink lilies with red centers
Sit on my desk making me restless.
Reminding me that they were meant
As your gentle way of saying 'farewell'.

I look at them and they seem to wink
As if mocking me for ever thinking
That a man like you would find a woman like me
Exciting enough to stick around for.

I frown in defeat and look down at the blank page
And suddenly I see it all, the players and the game.
I have a cast and a plot with a twist at the end.
I hold in my mind the vision of a mythic epic.

I look back up at the lilies and they seem to blush.
What had been their victory has become my triumph.
My pen hits the paper and begins to run its length
Never pausing, never letting me catch my breath.

As the days pass and the lilies begin to wilt
I feel a resurgence of my passion for life.
Caffeine and whiskey will sustain me
Until the first draft is sent off.

And then, when you reappear in my life,
I will no longer be the quiet wife you left
But the brilliant writer you gave birth to
With that simple gift of pale pink lilies.