Purple Phlox Blooming Amid Vietnamese Mint

Beautiful Interloper

There is an interloper in my mint bed,

It's not that kind of interloper I dread,

But the kind I like, instead.

It's one of the first to appear,

As sunlight falls upon my green mint,

In spring, this infant time of year.

I didn’t plant it, that I recall,

Perhaps a seed fell from a pot,

Many years ago, in fall.

My partner thought it damaged the mint,

Yanked the beautiful interloper viciously,

From its bare spot with evil intent.

I tried to patiently convince her,

That it wasn't the intruder’s fault.

But she ignored me anyway,

Assuming its implication by default.

Recently, popping up purple amid,

Lush new mint meat wrapping leaves,

She decided that she likes them,

And is giving them her reprieve.

Interloper no more, a welcome guest,

Another bird introduced addition,

To our migrant garden with all the rest.

Copyright 2026 © Ronald W. Hull

3/26/26

You can read and print this poem at my website here.