{"id":55,"date":"2025-05-09T02:43:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T07:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/publications\/milk-tooth\/?page_id=55"},"modified":"2025-05-09T15:30:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T20:30:16","slug":"marigold","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/publications\/milk-tooth\/latest-issue\/marigold\/","title":{"rendered":"Marigold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marigold by Thomas Lacey<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mari, Mari, Mari. That name was never yours.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Out in the sea of perfect marigolds,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beside the hill that never had a name,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is where I came across the neighbors’ child<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before I knew I’d ever be a man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just old enough to squint and read the letters<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spelling “Tulip” in the dirt—yes, young and merry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The girl was never more alive and merry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Than when she picked the perfect marigold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I told her mother—once I could write letters—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And heard her call upon the Savior’s name<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That if her husband should return, that man<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Would finally see the beauty in his child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Tulip was seldom frightened as a child<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For she was always innocent and merry,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if she did come by an evil man,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She sprinted towards the field of marigolds;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so, to me, that word became her name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that was when we started writing letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

So, then we tried to place its many letters<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The word is never easy for a child).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We struggled, but we learned to spell the name,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in that day, I promised I would marry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The girl with golden braids like marigolds,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we grew up and I became a man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

She promised, too, but now I am a man<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet I have to pray for just a letter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by my precious Marigold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She tells me now that she was just a child<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that is true, but we were young and merry,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I<\/em> had given her a special name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

But Marigold refused to keep the name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She went to France and found another man,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decided she had found the one to marry,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And after that, she seldom sent me letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon enough, they had a little child<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And no one knew about my Marigold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

She kept the name, but just to sign her letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with that man, she had another child<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And called her Mari, short for Marigold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\n
Return to Volume<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marigold by Thomas Lacey Mari, Mari, Mari. That name was never yours. Out in the sea of perfect marigolds, Beside the hill that never had a name, Is where I came across the neighbors’ child Before I knew I’d ever be a man. Just old enough to squint and read the letters Spelling “Tulip” in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":528,"featured_media":0,"parent":7,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"bsu_hero":"","bsu_hero_on_children":false,"bsu_hero_height":"","bsu_hero_video":"","bsu_hide_from_navigation":false,"bsu_require_auth":false,"bsu_require_auth_usertypes":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-55","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/publications\/milk-tooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/publications\/milk-tooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/publications\/milk-tooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/publications\/milk-tooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/528"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/publications\/milk-tooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/publications\/milk-tooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/publications\/milk-tooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55\/revisions\/56"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/publications\/milk-tooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/academics\/publications\/milk-tooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}