Ordinary miracles
The courgette seeds remind me
that the miraculous exists, having
broken the surface of the compost
in a matter of days, and now, just
over a week later, are tall enough
to be moved from the propagator
into their own little potted homes.
These days, I feel as if am grateful if
ordinary things can be allowed to happen:
for children to survive their day at school,
for powerful men to look in the mirror
and find humanity staring back.
We are all falling asleep and waking up
with too many stories of death.
Our apricot trees are blossoming,
always the first. Next the greengages.
Then the cherries. In the Alborz mountains
behind Tehran the cherry trees blossom
around Nowruz, the Persian new year –
a time of joy, gratitude, and fresh starts,
of visiting families and celebrating nature.
Is this where we can begin to find hope,
in the things that tie us together, not
drive us apart? Branches of blossom,
the shared miracle of their fragile scent.
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