NOW BLOOMING--BLEEDING HEART

My favorite plant and my favorite words from Mary Oliver. The Bleeding-Heart
by Mary Oliver

I know a bleeding-heart plant that has thrived

for sixty years if not more, and has never

missed a spring without rising and spreading

itself into a glossy bush, with many small red

hearts dangling. Don't you think that deserves

a little thought? The woman who planted it

has been gone for a long time, and everyone

who saw it in that time has also died or moved

away and so, like so many stories, this one can't

get finished properly. Most things that are

important, have you noticed, lack a certain

neatness. More delicious, anyway, is to

remember my grandmother's pleasure when

the dissolve of winter was over and the green

knobs appeared and began to rise, and to create

their many hearts. One would say she was a

simple woman, made happy by simple things.

I think this was true. And more than once,

in my long life, I have wished to be her.