Sunny with a 50% Chance of Flowers

For a whole year I kept two Christmas plants

Amaryllis, and her adopted brother, Cactus

Tucked away in the dark closet

Keeping them so dry they must've believed they were in the Sahara

Must've thought I had forgotten them

In the glory of summer's gardens.

Then, when my plastic stick and the paper note,

taped to the inside of my cupboard door

Said it was time,

I brought them out

Though still in a cool location with at least 12 out of 24 hours of darkness

Just as I was told by the foremen,

Mr. Stick,

& his equal partner in the business,

Mr. Paper.

Watering them sparingly,

As one would give water sparingly

to a man

About to die of thirst

So as not to overwhelm them

With too much of a good thing.

Amaryllis began to grow her long green leaves

So fast that I could almost watch them stretch out longer every day

Christmas Cactus began to show little pink blushes

on the ends of his darker green leaves

Then it came time to bring them out

To put them where they would hopefully

Display their full glory in colour

Cactus was ever so grateful to be out in the brightness again

And showed his appreciation by spreading wide his lovely red petals

Amaryllis grows ever longer

Somehow though,

I don't have much faith in her

She's a little more revengeful

And won't let me forget the long lonely months

She spent banished to the closet.

There was one more though;

One who was treated differently from the others

Pointsetta, left over from last Christmas

Was left out in the open all year long

I watered her, gave her light.

Allowed her to take part

As spring turned to summer, and fall turned to winter

She grew bigger and never lost its greenness

I was proud of her

Not many would've done as she did

Sadly though

She was so used to being the only child

She couldn't face the competition

Of the showy new addition to the clan

Within 5 days of her bigger brighter sibling coming home

She shrivelled up and died.

I felt her pain,

and my guilt.

Sibling rivalry can be rough.

But most of us learn

To love our fellow man,

And yes, even our siblings,

Even though we may feel jealous of their beauty

Isn't that what Christmas is about?

-The End-