Madeleine O’Reilly

I’ll Think of You

The plants in my garden have stories to be told

The joy of a golden marigold

And the pain of a periwinkle forget-me-not

These plants remind me so that they won’t be forgot

The stories and dreams of those before me

The flower’s petals hold our stories in their dazzling sea

With every heather green leaf, a new story to see

With every emerald shamrock, I’ll think of you

A grandfather who set off into the black unknown

Who left home and dug our roots deep into a new country

With every shamrock that dies, ten more rise in its place

A symbol of his resiliency and grit

His story teaches me how to bounce back

With every scarlet poppy, I’ll think of you

A grandmother who brought my family together

Who loved to craft and who introduced us to pączki

Poppies thrive in hundreds of fields, washing the ground in their ruby red

A symbol of her endless compassion and love

Her story teaches me how to always move forward

With every pastel wildflower, I’ll think of you

My parents who taught me the names of plants

Who filled my life with the rose pinks and sunbursts of wildflowers

Who through every hardship and challenge

Like the wildflowers, face it head-on with courage

A symbol of their strength and perseverance

Their stories teach me how to have strength through strife

The plants in my garden have stories to be told

They are reminders of old

They are the colors of me

Colors I live to be

Green for my grandfather’s grit

Red for the love my grandmother lit

Pink and orange for my parents’ unwillingness to quit

So with every shamrock,

With every poppy

And with every wildflower,

I’ll think of you