My love gifted me the dandelions through coffee shop windows,
they hang now on the walls of our home,
reminding me that all love starts small.
Nurtured and watered,
that love grows,
now he teaches my daughter to bring me the sunshine in the form of daisies.
Her sister was a flower too, but her petals fell early;
Lilies are poisonous if consumed -
But it was the grief that consumed me first.
The yellow was pulled from under me -
Flowers and lawn too; days pass without colour,
grief an all-consuming hue
Our home cold, our flora dead.
Until of course, a gift was sent -
Brand new seeds to plant in our garden bed.
Now in our garden, Ivy grows;
Her vines wild, they cover the cracks in my walls,
she delivers her daisies and I see yellow once more.
ELIZABETH SANTAROMITA she/her), a twenty-four-year-old published writer and Mum of one; studying English and Creative writing at Murdoch University in Western Australia. Elizabeth struggles with chronic illnesses such as endometriosis and adenomyosis and hopes to dismantle the stigma and silence surrounding them. She also identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community as a Bisexual.