Today, I kissed some poppy seeds.

Scattered them across my garden. Watered them in.

Gently sprinkled grey ash over them.

One summer, a drunk, who should never have been driving, killed my five-year-old daughter. My only child.

In July, the soil where she lies will be awash with blood-red flowers.

Hugh Cartwright is a scientist living and writing on the Canadian west coast.