Another Bud

when will time stretch

forward to the taut point

where i no longer know

the place where i'm confined

when i cannot summon the words

to answer the nurse's questions

about the date that's always changing

unannounced for me

the time the month the year

my mind and body curling

tightening twisting

into a bundle of shrinking

the wider world fading

clarity and power dispersing

left with only memories

and then not even those

could i be blessed in that hour

with the final solitary feeling

that i might reverse direction

and be a green bud graced

with sufficient light

and warmth and water

to open for the one time

into a magnificent flower

sweet eternal fragrance

subtle weave of color

and in an early morning

shortly after appearing

tumbling in the garden

from this life as a graceful

flutter of mottled petals