Flowering Gourd

Flowering Gourd

 

A yellow flower, a tiny star,

grew in huge leaves & centered there

my expectations grew to think

that it would have a lovely scent

I was young & pretty things

held such a large appeal to me

The flower grew brown

it fell away

a bulbous head appeared & pushed

into a twisted, oval shape

So odd & ugly, there it lay

a sacrifice that grew toward sun

until it hardened big & brown

One day my mother picked it up

& carved it hollow to a cup

She said it was the perfect shape

& hung it from the spigot pump

She said it wasn't meant to be

a flowering, pretty useless thing

so it became my favorite dip

for water in the summer heat

Something appealing in the way

it served so solid,

strong & brown.