Resusified

I'd slipped yesterday's irises into a narrow glass cylinder and woke to them this morning; they were unfurling.

Near noon, however, I heard one stem bend (there was a sound to it) and then another, and I realized that yesterday's water was gone, and there was nothing to sustain them. I filled the vase again, had little hope.

This afternoon, when I returned to my office, I found the irises unfurled and upright. They had survived my neglect and my mood.

I had, too.