A Garden Prayer

That shrimp plant
so determined to be seen
poking through the ginger and the fig
like a four year old
waving skinny arms and red cheeks
to those towering above

That shrimp plant
grown from cuttings of a friend
who no longer lives in this country
from a house
that has since burned down

That shrimp plant
breaks at its knobby knees and elbows
when the wind blows too hard
drops to the ground
and grows again

Universe
today I pray
please
please grant us the resilience
of that shrimp plant