"When you smile, the air grows warm and soft, the earth is watered with gentle mists, seeds sprout and spread leaves above the dark, damp soil, earthworms pierce the crust and frolic across the surface to the delight of fat, happily hunting robins, lilies of the valley unfurl beside purple, grape-scented irises, fat pink and maroon peonies, and gay California poppies, damask roses hurl their rich fragrance to the wind, the crazy-with-sheer-joy song of the Northern mockingbird echoes above other chirps and sweet winged notes, gardeners join the worms in the warm, rich dirt, children gallop across yards and grab handfuls of dandelions to present to mothers who will set them in glasses of water in kitchen windows or on dining room tables, weeds glorious after the dark of winter with the color of the sun that grows and warms and heals in your smile."
"The Sun Grows In Your Smile" by Linda Rodriguez, from Hearts Migration. © Tia Chucha Press, 2009