On Separation
Rootbound no more
my white violet
settles into fresh soil.
Old roots no longer fed
velvet stems, fragile blooms.
Leaves drooped, freshness faded,
constrained, it languished.
Total change required,
brutal blade cuts
horizontal roots
circling inner walls,
confinement slashed.
Wounded but vital
cut edges begin to grow.
Timid new roots
push tenderly past
outgrown patterns.
Boundaries fall
rawness feeds renewal.
from Glimpses: a Memoir in Poetry
