Immortal Oleander

Neptune emits more light
Than it gets from the sun.
We want to shine like that,

Yes, mostly from one mind,
But more than that mind gives.
White oleander blooms

Along the garden wall.
The previous owner
Did her best to kill them.

Cut them down. Dug out roots.
Covered stumps with black tarps
Weighted with rocks. She thought

Of them as poisonous,
Ugly, a risk to her
Young daughter. She burned them,

Poured gasoline on them.
But, after a few years
Under new ownership,

They grew back, blossoming
White, plus some red, spheres,
Lush green leaves all summer.

The songbirds hide in them.
Her daughter still lives there,
Now roughly half the year.

No one can see Neptune
Using human eyesight,
But that blue gleam’s out there.