worried azaleas

tip toe, peering over outcast azaleas –

rain still dripping from their sunset bodies

forecast skies call for anxious and tired eyes, awake at 2:00 am

toil bearing down on our insomniac minds

there is the worst waiting for you in the hands of the darkness and the cold and clammy midnight

morning brings azaleas

and you pick them, fresh and new with last night’s rain

the rain you listened to as you thought about everything that could go wrong –

the toothache that might find you, the letter you may get in the mail, the text that you dread and yet stay awake for, the hole in the sky that might pour thunder and lightning and hail, killing wispy azaleas

but morning comes and you tip toe outside in your pjs and find them, intact

awake, greeting you with their winsome smiles

and your worried brain laughs