When is dead not dead?

There are 'ickle tiny weeny buds on the stunted limbs of the front lilac.

I am so happy to see that she's not dead.

I hadn't noticed and was busy hugging her and sending love... yes, I know, an act of crazed desperation, when I spotted bits of green. At first I thought it was just, like, I don't know, moss. But then I realised that she was growing from at least half her amputated branches.

There is something truly miraculous in this return to life. Yes, Pheonix-like. Yes, Lady Lazarus.

Plants do have a nervous system. They may, just may even be sentient. I wonder if she experiences, as do people sometimes who have amputated limbs, the sense of still being whole?

They are intelligent. Roots are like neurons - and in community, interacting with fungi. They use electrical signals and the same hormones we have.

More to the point, why would plants produce such chemicals as morphine if they don't need them?

She has been tortured and yet she survives.