It's July, Wake Me Up in Amethyst.

Happiness" by Paisley Rekda

• I can wait longer than sadness. I can wait longer

• than your grief. It is such a small thing

• to be proud of, a garden. I watch the roses

• open, the irises bend their purple heads

• to the ground. I wait for the peonies

• to bloom, their soft heads bobbing

• in the wind. I wait for the bees to find them,

• the hummingbirds to dart among the flowers.

• I wait for the oriole to build its hanging nest,

• for the finches to come and go, for the sparrows

• to hop among the leaves. I wait for the leaves

• to turn, the trees to bare their branches.

• I wait for the snow, for the ground to freeze,

• for the sap to stop rising. I wait for the sun

• to return, for the first green shoots to push up

• through the soil. I can wait longer than you.

• I can wait longer than your sorrow.

• I can wait for the world to right itself,

• for the seasons to cycle back around.

• I can wait for the garden to bloom again.