Wisteria from Seed

“Almost no one grows wisteria from seed,”
I told my sons.
“This one has a healthy set of leaves
so it ought to flower
in about ten years.”

I’m sixty now.

When I was in school
a botany professor showed our class
a bamboo plant.
“This flowers every forty years,” he said.
“I won’t be here to finish the experiments
I might start now.
If any of you are planning graduate studies,
please see me after class.
I’ve got some ideas I’d like to try.”

I never thought myself a man of faith
yet I grow wisteria from seed
while others study bamboo
plant vineyards
grow olives
raise children.

"Wisteria from Seed" was first published in the journal Glassworks