I would knock on his door
and he would open it, always.
This was less premonition,
more simply knowing.
Over three decades of history,
and here’s the one person
who will never let me down.
Sometimes we do attune
to the other’s thoughts,
though it is hard to attribute this
to the supernatural.
More the connection between two souls
that coupled up like magnets
from early on.
I wish I had known.
But now I do.
Many look at us
with self-confessed envy.
As if this never required
years of tears,
silent frustration.
Rage, even.
Lock down, open up.
There was no easy resolution
in those early days.
But there was intuition
that it would not always be that way.
Communication.
Halting, but steady.
The qualities that bound us,
one to the other,
could not be predicted or planned.
But they could be cultivated over time,
like the plants in my own backyard.
All of those invasive roots,
tangling and twining below the surface,
and I don’t even try to plant
in that ground.
I have amended the soil,
dug it up, dug it out,
pulled the thorny weeds
that jab the fingers from every angle.
And now I must wait.
Meanwhile, I raise up a bed or two
in which to grow greens,
ginger, turmeric.
I don’t know what’s happening underground
with all the new microbial activity.
I cannot know
until the surface begins to demonstrate
the transformation happening
deep underneath.
But I have become patient
over the years.
I have learned to wait long enough
for redemption.