Canna lilies in fall

CANNA LILIES IN FALL

Canna lilies, trimmed to stalks,
stand like the royal guard,
arrayed in terra cotta urns,
silent, each one at attention.

In October’s angled light,
we upend the pots, spilling
tubers, roots, tangled in soil,
Prepared now to hibernate.

Then we see the lonely stalks
have formed and twisted, each to each,
beneath the earth, hidden from us,
a single secret organism

As the cruel spade rives the bulbs
from their fall entanglements
to dry throughout the winter,
I think us two parting,

Separate in time and space,
but with roots entwined beneath,
hidden deep within a secret
that no person shall rive apart.