Shamrocks in Their Winter Home

sometimes my winter phone
lights up with beach pictures
sent by my sweet friend
from the Bahamas

here where I live
late winter is a dare
a challenge to take up
day after snowy day

an island in the Bahamas
might as well be Mars

but just this morning
I watered the shamrocks
a row of pots by the sunny window
lined up on the radiator, lush
flourish of green and purple
and then I can picture
every lounge chair, every beach,
every memory of being warm
all the way to my bones