The Late Young Dandelions

She thwarted the late young dandelions
by picking and placing their heads
yellow in a row
in the space between two planks
of the deck step.
Their purple bulbous cousins,
would-be natives of the next projected spring,
she elevated one above;
but in the morning,
after last night's first hard frost especially,
they all were withered
soon to disappear--if lucky, to be re-picked by a wind
and placed
where rot can do the most good. 
This is only what we should expect
and hope for, that there will always be
such flowers to be sacrificed
to a childish sense of ornament and order
wherever we may live.
 
November 1 2010