This Little Miracle

This little miracle,
this pile of green leaves
that hasn't done much of anything for two years
but grow and put a shoot out now and then


all of a fine sudden sends up a stalk
with a knobby end to it
A head, hooded


It's a bud, of course, and you weren't expecting it,
hadn't dared to hope for it
Figured you didn't deserve it
Must've done something wrong

to wait so long



but oh, here it comes! and it reaches
higher each day and changes each hour
so you keep checking it morning, noon and night


and it winds up taking days to open
Each stage more delicious than the last
The bud giving hints of the flower within


But you could never imagine

along about midnight on a Tuesday
when it finally springs open and says
TA-DAAAA!



that there would be a Muppet inside
who sounds like Grover, gravelly, but very polite.
Hello, and how are you this fine morning?

Fine! I'm so happy to see you!


And I am happy to see you
Ha ha ha ha ha!

although I have had quite a bit of
Trouble with my hat.

Paphiopedalum spicerianum "Boss" x P. spicerianum "St. Elsewhere"
Purchased in bloom 5/07, Franklin Park Conservatory, Columbus, Ohio
Rebloomed 10/09, in my bedroom. This flower was twice as big as its first.
The Paphiopedalums are represented in North America by the lady's slipper orchids.
P. spicerianum is native to limestone cliffs in Bhutan, at the foothills of the Himalayas.
That I can grow it in a bedroom at the foothills of the Appalachians is, to me, a little miracle.
Read more about its culture requirements here.