the temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers

    There is a peace lily on my entertainment stand. I bought it from the grocery store around Easter time. It was big but a little beat-up, flowering but kind of weathered. It bloomed nicely throughout the spring, and then the blooms dropped off, as they do.
     Every week to ten days, all the leaves droop like crazy. It is the plant's way of letting me know that it needs some attention. I give it a drink and one-quarter turn so that each side gets roughly equal sun over time. Within about an hour, the leaves perk up and it starts to look like itself again.
     A lot of the leaf tips turned brown toward the end of the summer. I think there was a period there where it went too long without enough water, and then got too much. It was incredibly hot and humid for a while, and it's not surprising that it would start to show the strain.

    The plant is getting pretty tight inside the pot. They like to be root-bound, but this is bordering on the ridiculous. I would like to wait until spring to split it out, but I may need to do it before autumn is over.
     I watered it this morning, and when I gave it the turn, I noticed a tiny spot of white between the green leaves: a bud, peeking through.
     There are three.  Light among the ruins.
     Reluctant acknowledgement that, despite appearances -
and maybe preferences - ever onward.

[the title quotation is by Bashō]