orders

The last major uttered his final orders

To his last soldier with his final breaths

Back bent with age

Back bent with the weight of all the unspoken letters

Between the sender and the receiver

Live,

Live like the azaleas in the winter

Covering the frozen path with rain of their petals

Giving life to the cold world we walk on

Live, and live,

Live like the roses that unfold in autumn

Thorns and petals and stem and all

Proud and free with no shame in its mettle and spine

Live, live, and live!

Live like the carnations that crop up in summer

Joy incarnate and incandescent

Lighting up faces with tears and smiles

And keep living!

Live like the violets that bloom as spring emerges anew

From the frozen tundra of your heart

A tiny, clear lake of meltwater will appear

Giving life to countless violets

Perennial, everlasting

Each one an eternal garden on its own

And then die.

Then you will burn, and die.

Because a flower that never wilts

Is only plastic

A sun that never sets

Brings only drought

And a life with no end

Is not worth living.

No, major,

Whispered the soldier

I don’t need orders

To live.