All will wither eventually; enjoy it while it lasts instead.

sewn

embryo ————————————- succumb                succeed

            fallen ————o———- suffer

                     encased ——- fight

                                  alone 

tend 

respirate / root in place / reach

higher / hear the birds / habituate 

outward / over the ground / occupy

space / swing in the breeze / swallow

time / tiptoe through youth / trip

pluck 

ripped from roots

you die

strung in water

you are alive 

to all 

believe such beauty 

could not weep

until wilted petals

gather on leaves

***

Process

I wanted to emulate the life cycle of beauty as a flower. At first it is a struggle to be seen, to be noticed as a seed buried in the dirt. The fight to refuse to let potential go to waste. Budding, you break through the sheltered plane, free and boundless into the unfamiliar world, naive and clumsy. You show off what you’ve worked for, glimmering, eye catching. Too young, too pretty, they snap at your stem. Preserve the beauty; do not let it wilt and age. Plucked from the dirt, you are stuck in a vase. But they don’t know that you will wilt either way.