Daily Cascade

February Fourteen

Happy Valentine's Day.
Prompt: Write your entry using the words: red, candy, cupid, flowers and Hallmark.

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February Fourteenth, Alone

This morning opened quietly
no knock at my door, nor his laughter
drifting to me like the light...
no more...except the calendar was
whispering in all shades of *red,
inside my shadowy room.

I recall him bringing towers of *candy
stacked like promises, with hearts
wrapped in shiny foil, as if
he wanted to seal his sweetness
after he was gone and his laughter, too,
warmer than our fireplace.

Yet, I smile and think *Cupid must be
busy today, as my neighbor has received *flowers,
roses mostly, and I saw this while watering
the Cordylines, plants for good luck,
in the front yard, which he had put in
with *Hallmark declarations.

So, in a while, I'll unwrap a single piece
of candy, and taste its sweetness slowly
and I'll watch my own rose bush in
the back of the house, how its buds can
open, even when alone, petal by petal,
toward the light.


*