I am a sycamore <br />stretching my sculptured limbs and branches <br />towards full moonlight <br />while my roots draw the Wabash River into me. <br /> <br />You are a cactus <br />simultaneously reaching out <br />and growing towards the painted sky <br />in the dry heat of the desert- <br />your lifeblood flowing into you <br />from some unseen underground spring. <br /> <br />We bloom where we are planted- <br />but would one of us wither and die <br />if transplanted? <br /> <br />Likely, not- <br />yet, I believe we grow most beautifully <br />where we are, <br />putting forth our best selves. <br /> <br />Sometimes, <br />I believe that there might be a someday <br />where I take your last name <br />and hyphenate it with my own <br />on bylines and taglines. <br /> <br />Sometimes, <br />I picture the sanctuary of my church <br />bathed in candlelight <br />and filled with people <br />as I walk towards you <br />wearing white, <br />my face aglow with love. <br /> <br />Sometimes, <br />I dream of <br />holding each other so closely <br />in passionate love <br />that our naked bodies blend <br />to create us <br />from you and me. <br /> <br />Sometimes, <br />I hold out hope <br />that we can find lasting love <br />built from interludes <br />placed between <br />my enjoyment of the changing seasons <br />and <br />yours of the desert panorama. <br /> <br />There are some, after all, <br />who spend their entire married lives <br />under one roof <br />yet know little more than loneliness, <br />while <br />-even across the miles- <br />we connect in such a special way <br />that the color of our world <br />turns to rainbow. <br /> <br />What lies ahead of us <br />lies ahead of us, <br />and all I know is this: <br /> <br />When the year was still new, <br />a sycamore and a cactus <br />somehow became entwined, <br />and the desert burst into bloom <br />while diamonds glittered <br />in the newly-fallen snow!<br /><br />Ainsley Jo Phillips<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/entwining-blooms-to-russell/
