The Lantana

Sitting in the hot-tub
in California,
I meditated on the
lantana growing to the side.
Red and yellow, sometimes
called Spanish Flag.
There is also a
blue-and-white variety,
which some call
Flag of Israel.
I'll call it
Flag of Uruguay,
our future home.
*
We no longer have
a hot-tub,
but we have a
swimming pool.
As I sit
naked in the sun,
the woman I love
beside me,
I see
that lantana has
grown under the
garden walls
on two sides
to greet me.
Like me, it
luxuriates in the
southern-hemisphere
sun
*
As all refugees
know, you can
only take with you
what is in your
head, and in your
heart.
Oh yes, I brought
books--
three hundred
of them--
though I had to
give away
a thousand.
But I still have
the woman I love
beside me,
and what
is in my head,
and in my heart.
And of course,
the lantana
could not be
stopped.

May 20 2015
Revised March 24 2017