I have never cared more deeply for something so temporary
I trimmed the dead leaves and put them in water to preserve them for as long as I could
Make them stay alive
as alive as I felt when you gave them to me

I keep them in sunlight
something so beautiful deserves to see more than my desk
and the papers that flood it
The ornaments of my life that surround the vase in which my flowers reside

The ornaments that sometimes remind me of when I didn't feel as alive
The poems I had forgotten to finish
for emotions can be just as temporary as flowers
but we try and keep them alive

So we cut the dead leaves
we stick them in a vase
feed them sunlight
and care so deeply, even if it's as temporary as flowers