why question

“Why should you mock anybody’s endurance or their means of survival? You, who’ve never faced death or even danger?”- Shirley Hazzard

note: from The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard

“where the violets came from”

You started using the word loggia for veranda,

fresco for mural, villa for house

but you were in an island

with mangoes, breadfruit and coral reef.

You walked on the beach

where perfect waves touched your feet,

you were thinking “where the violets came from”

beauty and abundance couldn’t sway your mind.

You concealed your tears.

note: referring to Parma violets quoted by Shirley Hazzard in The Transit of Venus