Growth

By Eve Lyons

I have this little plant in my office
that will not grow. Will, laughing,
suggests that maybe it's traumatized
by all the negative energy clients hurl around it
day after day. Does it find this one
too loud and overwhelming, or perhaps
this one too depressed?
What do you need, little plant, in order
to grow? Your sister in Mildred's office is
growing so fast, taking over all four walls. I hope
this is indicative of the light in this office
and not the quality of the therapy.
But it can't be that.
You're not dying, you have one new leaf
in the last three months. You're just
growing very slowly,
and I am impatient.


Previously published in Yale Journal of Humanities and Medicine, June 14, 2011