Afternoon Delight, A Poem

What did I learn from choosing an un-partnered life?
I learned that I can make time to notice the unfolding of lilies.
A detail in a partnered life I would have considered a luxury.

In the routine chaos of packing lunches, doing school runs and filling out tax-forms.
I would not have thought it right to buy lilies for 6 dollars,
Nor it right to place them in a vase to sleep, until they decided it was time to bloom.

Amid the emotional distance growing between my partner and I,
the instagram feed and the muted inbox of his, I refuse to acknowledge,
I would not have noticed that lilies take 4 days to unfold their petals,

Amidst switching personalities from wife, mom and woman,
I would not have registered that the scent of lilies
resembles washed linen, and
the scent reaches every corner of my home,
once it decides it is time to bloom.

"Why did you choose an un-partnered life?", they ask.
I reply,
"To enjoy the unfolding of lilies."

The End.

Noora Noushad