Disturbing the Daisies

I miss you this morning lying in my bed listening to the rain because I know how much you love listening to the raindrops do their dance on the roof... the pitter patter of their fragile ‘feet’ starting softly with almost silent steps then as the music erupts the sound enlarges
-pellets pelting the roof!

Reminds me of my Oumatjie's old home with the tin roof and how sheets of sleet would wash the bone dry garden and her plants and flowers would almost seem excited as they celebrated the downpour!
-their petals shaking to the magical music of the rainfall …
-standing strong when the sun shone again
after being well watered…

I was intrigued by bumble bees buzzing about
and always amused by ‘monkeys’ weddings’
when the sun shone through the gentle glitter
sprinkling from the sky…

We would watch the drops dance down the misted window panes and disappear onto the dry deck as they slid off the stoep -my Ouma’s freshly polished red steps that always shone – now reflecting the rain…

Then my brother and I would ride our bicycles through puddles and laugh out loud as the splashes wet our bare feet and wonder where the end of the rainbow was
so we could find our pot of gold
and not have to search for lost coins on the pavements…

I’m a skinny little girl again as I step back in time in my mind to my Mommy’s patch of garden beside the white wall of our home watching her happy hollyhocks towering in the sunlit sky as they grew in her garden, standing tall much like the strong sunflower stems from her Mommy’s garden – their strength barely swayed by the storm’s strong winds …
- grounded in the ground
- steady and secure… sure.

but we weren’t as we watched her hollyhocks wilt and wither
– unattended
as all attention was drawn to the empty space
at the dinner table…

in our hearts.

-my tiny hand clutched a broken daisy chain so tightly
it crushed my childhood

…the whispering breath of the wind
scattered the dandelion-daisy
shattering my small soul.

As a little girl, sadly, I didn’t see my Oumatjie’s heart break when her daughter died.

—
Brenda.ps23©