Wilted, by time and tragedy

My stem barely able to hold up my head

Thirsting from a thousand days

Of roots clinging to nothingness

Hoping

For a drink that never came



Only poison water

Tasting good at first but seeping up into me

Through every fiber of me

Eating me, destroying me

And teasing me with

Temporary bliss

While it wrinkled my petals

And weakened my stem

And mocked my roots clinging so desperately



And now, wilted, some of my petals

Laying on the dry ground around me

My roots stopped clinging long ago

Knowing full well that

They were clinging

To nothing

My stem so thirsty it has

Forgotten how to drink

My head hung over

In a defeated slump



I want to look up at the sun again

To open my face

My petals

And smile

I am so thirsty



And then you come

And you are like a drink

A beautiful oasis in a desert of hurt

Wetting my lips again with your kindness

And your affections

Telling me I am beautiful

In spite of my wilted petals

And slumped stem

And shallow roots



You come

You say, "Look at the sun again"

And I drink of you

And you wake me up

And I can lift my head

And my roots start to cling to you

To this drink I have so desperately needed

To stop the thirsting

And the wilting

And the dying



I drink you

And you refresh me

And wake me up

And while I am still wilted

And thirsty

I begin to peer up at the sun

And to open my petals

And to flourish

Because you are the drink

I so desperately needed

My oasis in a lifelong desert of hurts