I frequently have trouble with titles
be they of photos, poems, or people!

Presumably, titles warn of content, provide context, purport function …
but today my heart is sad,
and even the playful part of title assignment fails me.

Instead, I embrace the coincidence of this framing
lush purple alive within a circle
of wood once living now dried and weathered
smoothed by cycles of warm and cold, rain and snow and wind
amidst the green of life unfocused, ever present
nurtured in earth dark and welcoming
nourished by rain
and the moldering of leaves and seeds and last seasons’
plants sweetened by the drip of pine sap
beautiful
sun-kissed warmth.

Life-death-life comforting in its constancy
the birth of these flowers, their beckoning to bees and butterflies
and other pollinators
my cat prowling, too old and crotchety to chase flighted birds
he contents himself playing with the kitten now
his grumpiness an act, secretly he relishes the attention!
He still makes the rounds with me every morning
inspecting the buttercups, lilies of the valley, dandelions, daffodils and crocuses.

It is too early to lose him, too.