What Roots Shall Bloom

^{—after The Centennial Banyan at Bayside Market Place in Miami-Dade County}

The Banyan at Bayside 
stands sentry  
over the city it watches.  

Nourished by a century  
of sea breeze and salt brine,  
Miami sidewalks soften  

beneath its crown. Leaf knit  
canopy so grand,  
we have forgotten 

it began as a seed  
that fell from the beak  
of a migrant bird  

fleeing its origins 
in search of sunshine, 
a warmer abode,  

the dream of a home  
gathered from fronds  
and sticks, from detritus, 

hope alone,  
fueling its wings 
spurring it on. 

This is how  
a county grows— 
one kernel at a time.

The seedling begets the sprout, 
the sprout begets the sapling, 
the sapling digs in and strives  

for light, for height,  
for the strength required 
to anchor itself, to grow  

into a trunk that will  
extend its branches  
toward us all, 

verdant arms laden  
with blossoms, with berries,  
with mangos, with flowers 

for our tables, our altars,  
the offerings we cast  
into our river, our ocean,  

for the dirt-warmed hands  
of the gardener who knows  
to prune only  

what can be transplanted, 
what can be regrown 
from the cutting,  

a scion strong enough  
to root itself within  
a new spot 

and grow in soil  
studded with coral  
and limestone, 

wanting only to offer  
itself, to bloom  
again, once more