What Held

I'd been watering it all winter.

Every few days, the same routine.

This morning I went to move it

and the base came away clean —

split right through. The soil held

its shape a moment on the sill,

a column with the roots still in it,

then fell.

The plant was fine. Still green.

Two orange arcs where the pot had been.

I stood there thinking about October —

how I'd fill the top and walk away, unseen

below, the crack already there.

The plant kept growing through the split.

I set it on a saucer. Swept the sill.

The pot in the bin. That's it,

mostly. The plant still growing.

The winter it came through still in the air.