a poem by Sydney Reffeitt, Sophomore English Education Major
I ventured in seeking flowers,
but I found you instead.
The blooms I sought vitalize my being;
they are the essence of my existence.
Herbs, flowers, branches galore
were strewn upon the forest floor.
Somehow, you were amongst the trees
quietly waiting for love to spring forth.
I held delicate petals
In my smooth Cedar hands,
searching for herbs
amongst the land.
A glimmer amongst the blooms
found its way to my eyes.
There it was…
the most beautiful bloom
I had ever observed.
Never will I find
a bloom unbeholden
with such grace.
A coursing stem the color of basil
wound about and swirled,
with small leaves of mulberry
clinging to the stem.
And thereupon existed
the pinnacle of its existence.
An opalescent luster
gilded over the mauve petals;
the petals joined in harmony
and took the shape
of water lilies on a pond.
Could this be nature’s most beautiful gift?
I reached out
to take this flower for my own,
but Alas!
It was not mine.
It never had been
and never will be.
I felt the branches rustling
on the soft earth,
realizing I had awoken
an even more perfect dryad
than the ones I lived amongst
before my world was uprooted.
I gazed into your eyes
with a curiosity
that would never be resolved.
You never had to ask
to join my ventures,
but from that moment on, you did.
The sun found a new radiance
as we gained more life,
reveling in the end
of a life once lived
in utter isolation and sorrow.
‘Twas the end of an age.
The blooms of the flowers
and the leaves of the herbs
were more plentiful than ever.
No longer did branches fall
and crash to the ground,
crushing what laid beneath it.
The bark of my skin
which was once so frail
became renewed
with your presence,
your words, your voice,
your innate being.
My heart sank
when we heard
the first tree fall
for the first time
by strange yellow shapes
taking on monstrous forms.
The trees fell closer and closer
to the place in which
we dreamed our home.
Tremors shook the Earth
to its very core,
waiting for us to fall.
I gazed in your eyes
one final time,
encapsulating the memories
once shared by our souls.
It seemed as though rainwater
dripped from our eyes.
We were out of the woods
when you turned to me,
waiting for me to see
such a vile structure
beyond the bloom on your head,
beckoning us forward.
The soil beneath us was soft,
but the structure protecting us
was cold, unforgiving, coarse.
We held one another
In the center of this place
so that we might be closer to Earth.
The last tremor
was the hardest and final blow.
We hugged each other close
and whispered to one another
a personal expression of emotion,
one which needs no explanation.
Rubble fell to the ground,
ending our being,
our life once lived together.
The bloom atop your head
Grew thorns in its stem
that would last forevermore.
And of all the life in the forest,
our bloom of love was the only one to last.
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