For our family's Christmas gift exchange this year,
my mom wrapped up a pot planted with spring bulbs
--and I, having drawn the number 1 from the basket, won it!
I was so glad to get my mom's gift, because it was from her,
and because it was the only gift that was alive.
We watched this hyacinth
grow and green before our eyes,
as the sunshine spilled into the car
and splashed over its waxy form
on the way home from her house.

Two weeks and one day later this is what it looked like,
miraculously transfigured
My mom, perennially cheer giving,
is always finding ways to give away spring gardens
in the frozen cold of winter.