The Compact

They were strangers but something
between them instantly connected
and they began a compact; one
offered a home the other pledged to
return to it constantly and in this way
they are reunited year after year
and their friendship delights the
gardener who tends to their needs.
This kind of altruism is not evidently
the monopoly of humanitarians
seeking to usher in a better world
but can be shared by other forms of
life for whom the greater meaning
of existence is to give pleasure to
others. And so, the California poppies
whose seed was planted once long
ago volunteers to replenish itself
every spring preparing for summer
flowering enabling the garden to preen
with its intense vibrant colours and
offer the beauty of the layered lovely
blooms to both garden and gardener.