She asks me how
I can be so good
at growing plants
when she has
no luck at all with them.

I pause, as if thinking,
try and hide the inward
smile, and respond
I just put them
in the ground.
I don’t tell her
that I also hope
that the rains will come
often enough
to keep them alive.

And I certainly
do not tell her that
when they die
as so many sadly do
I replace them
when no one
is looking.