Rudbeckia

the rudbeckia aren’t usually still in bloom,

so close to my birthday,

and even these are brittle –

but in the patch near the small gravel pile,

perhaps sheltered by the overgrown viburnum,

a few stragglers remain.

if I’d noticed them last year I might have arranged

one more vase

and placed it by her bedside,

so she could have turned her head

and thought to herself,

how I love those black-eyed susans.