Wisteria I’ve valued for as long
as I’ve lived with this yard, delighting me
in purple blooms and summer leaves on strong
tenacious limbs that climbed to canopy
my trellis, strewing on the ground below
its petals, pods and foliage sun-dried,
wisteria I thought would always grow,
has stressed, arrested, desiccated, died.

I mourn the loss. The plant had thrived a score
of years. It seemed to struggle last year too –
I paid to have it expert-pruned before
the winter rains. With spring I looked for new
vitality, but daily felt more low
to watch wisteria that failed to grow.