Anniversary

Ten years ago
we stood before sunflowers
pushing their seedy faces
up the shed’s outer wall,
our feet immersed in
dandelion clover.

Pledged from this day forward
to plant bulbs in Spring,
tulips, daylilies and irises;
push marigold and daisy seeds
into black Summer soil;
build towers for tomatoes,
grids for zucchini, cucumber, peas.

Vowed to sit in Adirondack chairs,
watch cedar waxwings
devour the juniper berries;
to hang thistle for goldfinch,
suet for woodpeckers
from blue spruce branches.

Today, we take the bulbs
from their dark Winter storage
beneath the spades and rakes,
gently place them
beneath the ground,
another year, as promised.