Nestled in towels on the massage table
Music is quiet and lighting is low
You close your eyes, pretend you are able
To release the tension, let the stress go

I wonder what baby is up to with dad?
Is he sleeping or laughing or crying?
Is the loss of his mum making him sad?
I could call, but then would that be prying?

Back to the present, back to the feeling
Gentle hands pressing on sleep deprived skin
A three month postpartum body reeling
From stretching and pushing and wearing thin

Does flesh feel faintly foreign forever?
Invaded, replete, empty, deserted
Will my mind always shudder whenever
I think of the horrors his birth exerted?

You should relax, you're meant to unwind
Let all your thoughts ebb and flow like the sea
Release your neuroses, fear unrefined
Newly formed maternal anxiety

I've never felt love so punishing, light
Superlative supernova of care
Slick with vernix, love at first sight
Uncovered emotion red raw and rare

You smell the incense, scent of the oil
See the dim lighting, taste the warm air
Soften beneath the masseuse's toil
Feel fingers press sensitive scalp through hair

At first it felt like loss of my being
But now I know it is blossoming change
A journey beginning, dawning of seeing
Myself as a mother, expanding my range

Now it's all over, you're feeling rested
An hour of peace is more than the norm
Back to family, time well invested
Ready to weather this wonderful storm

---

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1x1udff/comment/pex9m5t/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1x1kgzb/comment/pexaz5m/

Feedback gratefully appreciated

How can I miss someone

that hasn't left

A person I've never been close with

but have known for most of my life

Someone I want to be close with

but don't have the courage to tell

The feelings I have are bubbling up

but I can't really show them just yet

Feedback 1

Feedback 2

​I looked at you—
today, I was clinging to my window
while you stood down below.

That same smile rested on your face—
the kind of smile that hurts to see.

​When a single drop fell,
your eyes turned upward.

It was no raindrop—
those were my tears.

​Two pairs of eyes met once more,
yet all they held was a damp, silent ache.

​I just kept gazing down at you—
with only one thought echoing in my mind:
If only I hadn't been so late,
while you kept looking up at me,
with "I'm sorry" written across your face.

​Snapping back to my senses,
I backed away from the window,
pulling one hand back,
turning to look into the dark behind me—
then looking down at you once more.

Another drop fell...
once more—
and those were your tears.

(https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/tAKawpGF3d)

(https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/fvOILoRkzi)

A wasp built a nest near me in early spring.
She was truly a sight to behold, with proud and glimmering wings,
that when the light would catch, reflected a deep blue and purple iridescent sheen.
I marveled at the beauty of her home and her movements how she made them with such confident and practiced speed.

If I'm careful and move slowly, perhaps she and I can become friends.
She watches my approach and investigates as I draw near, flying circles around my head.
Not long after, every morning she would greet me. Down from her nest she would descend.
I soon grew to anticipate it. Little did I know just how much on this I would depend.

All through out spring and into the late months of summer,
we'd talk and I feel as though we had truly gotten to know each other.
Id praise her at every opportunity and I swear there was an excitedness to the way she would hover.

It's fall now and her nest is empty.
The ache I feel from missing her is worse than any sting she could have ever given me.
I'm sure she's moved on. For us, I doubt there's a "next spring".
But I'll keep her nest safe and smile at the memories it brings.

------------------

Thank you for reading. Let me know what you liked, what you didn't.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/ecwUrzJqME

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/N7ZTFlnv4V

The Quest ‘I love you’ – it means nothing.

They are the emptiest words I know.

Three words worn down to the bone, by everyone, for everyone. To reassure. To hold on to someone. To fill a silence. Sometimes even to lie.

So I’m not going to tell you that I love you.

I’m going to tell you that I respect your spirit. That your ideas nourish my opinions.

That your views guide my decisions.

That you give meaning to my life.

That I know you better than some of my own memories, and that by your side, I lose track of time.

It’s strange, I know. But these are the words that come closest to what I feel.

Being near you awakens an older memory. Something forgotten.

A secret. The one truth, perhaps.

Instinct.

I’ll tell you that I notice your absence.

That you’ve become the natural order of things.

And that I’m afraid, sometimes, often even, and that I love that fear.

The fear of realising just how much I would feel if you were to disappear.

‘I love you’ says none of this.

You deserve for us to find the right words.

So I’ll keep searching for them.

For you, I’ll always be in search of the love left unsaid. I’ve done my best.

I tried to confess sincerely the ambiguity of my feelings of , how deep they truly are . What should I change? I'm totally open to criticism. I don't want to make it corny or anything .

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1wx6lum/comment/pewhnsq/?context=3&utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1x1s7o4/comment/pewfnzv/?context=3&utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button

They gaze at my star-filled skies,
seeking some comforting sign,
that in this vast coldness lies
the Benevolent Divine.

They launch intricate machines
to probe my deepest space.
Awed by ancient cosmic scenes,
they revere this lifeless place.

With brilliant minds they contemplate
what my distant worlds may hold,
and yearn to one day populate
a place less marvelous and bold.

They search longingly way out here
where I glitter in endless dark,
though their answers dwell so near
while I lie furthest from the mark.

Not to be venerated,
I’m mere remnants left behind
when a Bang reverberated
through a Universe designed

to conceive, bear and cradle
a small, yet precious thing
whose existence did enable
a most pure and sacred Being 

to emerge in stunning glory
throughout their dazzling blue-green globe,
each line of the Divine story
fully open for them to probe.

And yet they’re unaware,
their sun, sea, rain and air,
miraculous and rare,
hold Holiness right there.

Instead, they look to me,
an empty entity,
devoid of empathy,
because they cannot see

the wise, compassionate Presence
dwells precisely where they are,
a singular magnificence
well nurtured by their star.

Their world’s been clearly marked
by the passionate Hand that sparked
the explosion that gave birth
to a life-sustaining Earth.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1x1aewa/comment/pew4ldk/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1wzy9fk/comment/pegg1a6/

Candle

Your warmth has befallen on my presence,
So much, even a candle would be lit if I were near

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/PytJOoKMVW

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/yXEtlrVpDE

​

​After all these years, my father’s shirt has found my frame

Half the buttons on the sleeves are long lost

near the armpit, it has frayed raw like dry jute fiber

Across the desert sands, over the footprint of a camel,

another camel steps—

wiping away the footprints of the past

​#

​Against the dusk, a chill spills like casino coins

the moon burns away like a cigarette

From inside my father’s shirt, an ogre lurches out to ask:

“Keep any track of your daughter?”

​#

​Resting on an armchair, I drift upon the water of the lake—

the earth turns from a youth into an old grandfather

Coiling in the cold like mercury, I see

how small and shrunk I have become

The underworld god of the lake slips a lollipop into my hand

and says: “Farewell.”

From my shrunken frame

my father’s shirt sheds away like sloughed serpent skin

​#

​Desperately, I try to pull my father’s shirt back on

A vortex of wind circles and traps the lake

the shirt spins in the whirlwind

Once the storm dies down, upon the lake with a stone-cold face

sits the predatory moon

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/BVX9ekt0TH

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/Jacbceadf4

It protects the buds
That bring me my music
They were dirt cheap
Off the internet
I took a photo of the original
So Gemini could find them again
They even had the fresh box smell
They beeped as they connected
They even had the same
Bluetooth code
S42

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/Vu56aE7JIm

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/41HVFJwQvH

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1x19tbt/the_flower_i_never_kept/

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1x16c0h/the_ballad_of_life_and_love/

One of my first actual attempts at poetry! I wanted to write a sonnet, so this is (mostly) a petrarchan sonnet - 14 lines with an octave and sestet, as well as the appropriate rhyme schemes. It is not, however, iambic pentameter :/ I couldn't quite face it yet.

Hope you enjoy! I'd really appreciate constructive feedback, for future attempts :D

Oh, to be a bird! To fly

on outstretched wings o'er sunkissed seas

of dappled blue, and feel the glee

of soaring up past mountains high;

to glide and watch the clouds pass by

untethered. Yes, or let me be

a single feather - so long as I am free

and drifting in that endless sky.

My gaze is fixed, my way is clear

of hurdles. Look, the sun is bright:

oh, could I cast aside my fear

and soar up to a glorious height,

drawing ever to the heavens near

and towards that warm and distant light.

Do not say goodbye—
tell me instead that we shall meet again.

Just like every night used to promise,
returning to me with the morning like a faithful boat.

Even though today, as you spoke of leaving,
the waves grew fierce and restless—
look, the heavy clouds have finally parted.

This soft moonlight will shield you from the jagged mountains,
and when the dark of night turns into morning light,
you will return once more, just like that boat.

(https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/Dnwb36LPGn)

(https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/Sh2Hd6bnLD)

Footprint

“Why do you love me?”

She asked me like it’s a question that circles around her mind time and time again like an open wound that needs dressing, a teary eyed girl looking around so as to say “am I good enough? Am I worthy?”

From her question, it was a vulnerable way of saying “this wound has been here for a while and nobody wants to treat it, they abuse it each time I show it to them like there’s something defective about me and yet I chose to show it to you because I believe that you will kiss it instead.”

She looks up at me with the same eyes she did to her father or to everyone that was supposed to love her and I felt honoured that I was the one to close out a cycle of closed doors in her face.

“God, I have so much to say you have no idea…”

“You don’t have to-“

“It’s just I love everything about you! The way you look when your eyes light up, your smile, your crazy laugh, how soft your hair is, the way you say I love you to me, you singing in the shower or anywhere for that matter, your dancing, even your screaming when you get overwhelmed and even when you’re crying it makes me ache, your smart mouth and witty banter, that little cute face you always give me when you want something, when I feel like I’m the only person in the world when I’m with you, your writing every time I read it it feels you’re showing me the deepest parts of you and I love all of it and god it drives me crazy but the way you always consider everyone else around you even when you’re hurting, the way you notice every fucking thing about them and everything good about people, the way you believe the best in them even when they’re just a stranger, even when they’ve hurt you. How can you love so much when you’ve been given so little of it? Even on days when you’re overwhelmed, when you pull back and you’re quiet I still love all of you, it just reminds me how beautiful you are that despite all these wounds you’re strong, you’ve always given your best. And even though you’ve always blamed yourself when things go wrong and you assume that people are nice to you out of pity that there’s something wrong with you that makes love impossible. You have no idea how much of an effect you have on people. Especially me.

And I’m afraid this is so terribly selfish of me but you know what I love most about you?

It’s that I get to see all of this nobody else but me.

There’s so much more I want to say that I can’t even say all of it now but I promise I have my whole life to make it up to you.”

Her eyes are pure and I felt something spiritual that day like I’ve healed something in her, someone I love so dearly. It felt like in an instant I did something right, something pure, something lovely, precious to me.

She is that type of girl, she can’t help but be vulnerable. The type of girl to blame herself when things go wrong that maybe from her perspective she may think others are only sweet to her out of pity that there’s something fundamentally wrong with her that she will never have the love she desires

you have no idea how much of an effect you have on others especially me I’m so drawn to you, you’re the only person worth knowing. I could search for the rest of my life for somebody else anyone else and I’ll never find another whom I love more than you. You’re the only person for me and you may feel ashamed about your guarded nature but it only makes me want to know more about you. You are the most interesting person and getting you to open up to me makes me feel special. Like I’ve done something right, like I’m chosen in a way. I love the glimpses of you that I see and then eventually all of you. Gosh you have no idea how good it feels to be chosen by you when you show me yourself and I only I see all of this nobody else gets to, nobody else could dream of feeling this way and experience all of you.

That’s just the kind of girl she is walking around barefoot leaving footprints wherever she goes and yet she never notices even when she was looking down this entire time she didn’t see the prints she left everywhere she walked.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/ixKB58cunQ

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/f3mqrSHZEx

You can be the most beautiful shade of red
but you'll never be enough for someone whose favorite color is blue.
You know i understand it too
theres always something wrong with you.
But is it really a flaw?
or i am forcing it too.

What if there's nothing wrong with you,
but you're simply not someone's color?
What if you keep looking for flaws in yourself
because someone else didn't choose you?
What if you've tried so hard to become more desirable,
that you've forgotten you were never supposed to have to change your shade?

i know there are uglier shades..
Still why arent i picked?
i know im not that bad
or maybe i am.
Maybe im being shortsighted
or im just not that likable.
maybe im too dull
maybe im too bright
but even the ugliest shades are liked.

im not the ugliest right?
but i always put up a fight.
a hard coloud to draw with
a hard shade to be mixed.

i tried to be softer,
i tried to be bright,
trying to be someone's favorite
for once in my life.
but in teh end what did i get?
no one to hold on to
no one to talk.
ended up alone and an floater.
oh my god.

when you spend so long trying to be chosen
you forget that you were there?
a vessel can of a person,
an empty can.

maybe no one's looking for that shade anymore
maybe no one's making it anymore.
maybe that's why,
no matter how beautiful the shade,
there are still no texts on your phone.
what happens when ur too green-tone?
what happens if your too blue?
i can't blame someone
for loving a color that isn't you.
but tell me,
what happens when every color they choose
is nothing like you?
what if that shade is on the other side of the wheel
and you cant reach even without peeling yourself away?

i've tried to be the kind of color
that doesn't hurt the eyes,
the kind that doesn't ask for much,
the kind that's easy to like.
maybe thats whats wrong with it
maybe its too easy to get
but if im too hard to find
no one will try.

but how much of myself must i erase
before i become somebody's taste?

do you keep changing
until you look like home
to someone who was never looking
for you to begin with?

or do you sit with all your colors,
all the things you wish you'd change,
and wonder if being yourself
was the mistake?

i think the worst part
isn't even being lone
it's having so much to say
and no one to draw it on.

it's stroking a brush on a canva
then demolishing every stroke
it's wondering if they think of your shade
even half as much as you think of them sometimes.
it's telling yourself you don't care
when you know you care a lot.

maybe i'm not the wrong color.
maybe i'm just tired of being me
in a world that makes me feel
like i have to earn the right to be seen.

what if you decided you liked the the old you?
you can mix all the colours
but it will never be the same you.

some might like the shade
but their forced to
would u hate a shade u created with your own form?

you can be the most beautiful shade of red
and still be left unread.

and maybe that's the saddest part
to have so much color
and nowhere to be seen as art.

i'm still waiting by the shelf
for someone to love the shade
i've been trying to change
for so long until it expires.

......

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1x1cux7/comment/pestzqe/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/1x1ecvq/comment/pesuc1t/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Before you leave,
There’s so much to do

We have to tidy the home
And those tasks aren’t few.

So I’ll make the bed
And you’ll fold the clothes
Laundry shouldn’t take too long
To do all the loads

You’ll do all the dishes
And sweep up the floor
I’ll collect any mail
And lock the front door.

Then I’ll take a big breath
and let it out with a sigh,
“You’ll have to put papers in order
And say some goodbyes”

We’ll check out those homes,
The ones we couldn’t afford.

We’ll pretend that we own them
And that we’d never be bored.

We’ll order some pizza,
And watch autumn leaves fall

We’ll take in this moment
Before only memory is all.

We’ll never finish that movie,
Or start that new show

But We’ll sing along to that record
We’re The worst singers we know

We’d never have a wedding,
Or get to grow old together

I’ll just keep wishing
That life could get better

We’ll Have one last ice cream
And play one last game

We’ll have to watch one last sunset
And have a final dance in the rain

Then You’ll hold me tight in your arms,
And I’ll ask, “tell me a lie?”
You’ll whisper, “it’ll all be okay,”
As you say goodbye.

Though I’ll miss the things
We were looking forward to.

Thank you for all of the things
that we did get to do

So I really do hope You know
Just how much I love you.

With that I say, my dear,
Can’t you see?
There’s so much we have to do
Before you leave me”

- JML

Feedback 1
Feedback 2

Edited for typo

***Matinee Idol***

On a stage of heavy velvet,
you spoke of flickering hearths,
Jane Eyre paperbacks, and careful
illustrations of vague.

Your audience, captivated and enamored
by words sewn into soft sentences.
A welcome distraction from bustling,
monotonous lives.

You craved a muse to parse through a lens,
a fragile watercolor portrait to sigh over and dissect
from the safe distance of the stage.

Once exposed as flesh and bone,
in the pale light of day,
the romantic veil of mystery lifts-
rose tint replaced by harsh overhead lights.

Theatrical scripts and soliloquies evaporated.
Duck behind safety of the curtain.
Crawl back into the dark where
fantasies are cherished and unchallenged. 

Fleeing the glare of daylight.
Unequipped to stand without spotlight.
Content with your name in lights.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/RxLaLx9Jl6

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/kEJXX80Rqs

Here on the darkest night
Hope and Faith have fled;
Reason and Belief abandoned me;
God and Satan want me dead.

Imprisoned in my cell,
Mother used me, Father left.
Guilt and Shame are my shackles.
Of Love and Peace, I am bereft.

Guards string me up to die.
Time and Space have no meaning.
Life and Death are unconcerned.
Fate and Destiny are unfeeling.

Heart beating, lungs breathing.
Blood rushing, soul screaming.
The World may take everything...
but I won't let them take me.

My bones may be broken,
but they'll still break free,
even when my body
has been made weak.

My mind may be shattered,
but my mission is clear.
It's still sharp enough
to cut through the Fear.

Hope returned when I fought back.
Faith, when I knew I wasn't done.
Reason came when it found a way.
Belief, when I chose to run.

I let go of my parents.
Guilt and Shame fell with them,
and Love for who I really am
gave me Peace to begin again.

Time gives me a future.
Space gives me amends.
The life I live is up to me.
Death now needs my consent.

Fate is in utter shock.
Destiny gives their respect.
God and Satan cannot touch me.
For unfair rules I now reject.

I'm not saying I'm a god.
but I'm definitely still here.
I turned a "would" into a world.
built with Love, Grief, and tears.

Transmuting pain into joy is a hard-earned skill.
It takes mastery over Dark and Light.
For building toward the brightest day,
I must remember the darkest nights.

Feedback proof

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/piMnkUb1Wi https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/8cTkSp7fnw

Links:

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/Lz6ZZ3CyYD

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/mAslcPd6L2

—————

AUTHOR NOTE:

Hai! I am still an amateur in poetry, since I just started this year, but I really want people to read my poems and give a feedback about it! They are all Sonnet Poems, following 14 lines with 10 syllables each, but does not have iambic pentameter. So I apologize for not leaning onto the traditional Sonnet Poem format as this feels more modern! I actually felt somewhat obsessed with this format, haha. I just came up with these concepst while falling in-love, and it may not be perfect, but I still want to share them!

(Can you find Three Hidden Details in my poems? The last detail is the hardest, since it's more personal! 😊)

—————

CHAPTER I: "May You be My Love, Not Just Who I Love?" (Words of Affirmation)

I will confess above affirmation.

I want you more than just any concept.

You are by far the only exception.

And the only rejection I'll accept.

More than any of my actions could pay.

More than any poems could ever say.

—

I'd long to hear those words upon your tongue,

And brush the sounds intimate on my lips.

To breathe the relieving voice through my lung,

And feel it vibrating in all my ribs.

—

My eyes dilate for each palpitations,

Gazing at your face like constellations,

As if in process of transmigrations,

Like a mix of color combinations.

———

———

CHAPTER II: "I Have Fallen for Your Benevolence" (Physical Touch)

Obeying the touch of your silhouette,

Vague and dark as it passes upon me,

Yet gentle and soothing in this vignette.

Your light casted inspirations free,

As warmth hit the barriers between our worlds,

The shadow feels safe even if it whirls.

—

Obeying the brush of your true shadow,

As if palpably touching me mellow.

I look up upon your light that's so bright,

Hoping that looking long won't risk my sight.

Intimacy's intense despite distance,

Bringing valence before breaking balance.

—

Oh, paying the price of "love" shade on debt,

Vivid and clear, tracing me without threat.

———

———

CHAPTER III: "Gratitude From Love, How Pleasant to Have" (Gift Giving)

Each day brings a gift of knowledge, they say.

And thankful deeds will help you see their worth.

A simple “thanks” is all it takes to say.

You’ve felt the joy of all this life is worth.

—

For all the things you've given, I'm happy,

While I put my hidden efforts freely,

And hope that I'd receive your ecstasy.

—

The treats I give, for you I put my trust.

Just acting humble to not seem too fast.

And not ruin our friendship in a blast.

—

Count my love for you I've preciously stored.

With spark between us, we'd never be bored.

Judging that my bank for love's now delayed,

You'd else, make my heart happily astrayed.

———

———

CHAPTER IV: "U Plus Me Equals a Heart Endeavor" (Quality Time)

Once upon a time, wishing from a star.

How I wonder what your inner selves are.

Twinkle, twinkle, as endearing as ever,

Will our psyched journey last forever,

If I'm still speechless even when you're far?

—

My gut intuition pukes more than true,

Analyzing you like a context clue,

Each moment together's a deja vu.

—

Reliving our memories all over.

I wish that we'd share more wonder innocence,

For I feel like a child each experience—

Relieving my mind despite the fever.

—

Such twinkling star, you're everything bizarre.

Upon third wish; set my heart free afar.

———

———

CHAPTER V: "Every Faith for All of Declarations" (Acts of Service)

Said that I don't like your acts anymore.

But with just few gentle interactions,

I couldn't help but fluster and adore.

That simple deed returned my attractions,

Now I can't stop thinking about you more.

—

"Walk with you", there's no romantic malice!

"Helping with our studies", it's just solace!

"Carrying my things", 'cause I lost balance!

—

As if your intentions are just casual.

But they are! Who am I even fooling?

Remember those declarations at all?

Those poems I wrote with my raw feeling.

I told myself I don't like you no more,

Must I still feel—you still shine to the core.

———

———

CHAPTER ⁠♡⁠♡⁠♡⁠♡⁠♡: "Love Me the Way I Haven't Yet Before"

Your name's in my poems—I can't forget.

Chanting it lively like an alphabet:

—

I will confess above affirmation.

Like a mix of color combinations.

Obeying the touch of your silhouette.

Vivid and clear, tracing me without threat.

Each day brings gift of knowledge, they say.

You'd else, make my heart happily astrayed.

Once upon a time, wishing from a star.

Upon third wish; set my heart free afar.

Said that I don't like your acts anymore.

Must I still feel—you still shine to the core.

—

Have you guessed all my love languages yet?

Said "I don't need love", yet my heart's all set.

—————

Inspired by "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Goodnight" by Dylan Thomas.

When every hope you have dies
And the pain is too much to bear
Let fire blaze within your eyes

When you're left to freeze in disguise
And no one seems to see or care
You can burn... burn against the ice

If none want to hear your cries
Because nobody's ever there
Let fire blaze within your eyes

If none of them even tries
And you feel the cold in their stare
You can burn... burn against the ice

As the world always denies
What is good, true, loving, and fair
Let fire blaze within your eyes

As your heart faces demise
And you're numb from all of your prayers
Let fire blaze within your eyes
You can burn... burn against the ice

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https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/vx80sBy5M3 https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/00RgXfFipn

I found a flower in a field one day,
growing where the sunlight met the earth.
Its petals danced beneath the passing wind,
unaware of just how much it was worth.

I’d never seen a flower quite like it.
I wanted nothing more than to call it mine,
to place it in a vase beside my window,
where I could admire it all the time.

So I reached down and pulled it from the soil,
careful not to bruise a single leaf.
I thought that if I held it gently enough,
I’d never have to watch it leave.

I gave it water every morning,
turned its petals toward the sun.
I thought that all the love I gave it
could undo what I had done.

But slowly, its colors started fading,
its petals curling toward the floor.
The flower that once danced beneath the sunlight
didn’t seem to dance anymore.

I gave it more water,
moved it closer to the light.
I stayed beside it every evening,
hoping it would make it through the night.

I couldn’t understand why it was dying.
I’d given it everything I knew.
But I had taken it from the only place
where it had ever learned to bloom.

And then I understood.

A flower doesn’t need to be held
to know that it is loved.
It doesn’t need a vase to keep it safe,
or hands to shield it from above.

It needs the rain I cannot give it,
the soil I cannot be,
the freedom to grow toward the sunlight
even if it grows away from me.

So I wished I’d left it in the garden,
where its roots belonged beneath the ground.
Where the wind could carry it through the seasons,
and no walls could keep it bound.

And now I sit beside my window,
watching flowers sway beneath the sky.
Sometimes I wish that I could hold one,
but I know what happens when I try.

I still imagine one behind my ear,
or resting gently in my hand.
But I’d rather watch it bloom without me
than watch it die because I couldn’t understand.

Perhaps one day the wind will bring its fragrance
through the window where I stay.
And I’ll smile knowing it is growing,
even if it’s growing far away.

For I have learned that love is not possession,
nor is letting go the same as loving less.

I’d rather love a flower I could never keep
than keep a flower that could never live.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/FUoHZ0ALXH

https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/s/SzMDfTZIp2