The Flower

M.F.

3/21/01

Look over there

Can you see it?

A flower

pink and beautiful

blooming and bountiful

Wonderful

Do you see it?

Over there on the median

That grass looks so comfortable

soft and green

inviting and breathing

a respite from the frenzy of our lives

Let's go over

Danger? I see no danger

I see only beauty

I see simplicity, an innocence in spring.

And it draws me - in a peaceful way

Did you lose your innocence?

Did you drop it somewhere, back there

long ago.

too busy to stop and put it back

too late to look for it again?

That flower

so innocent and pure

knowing nothing of politics or economics

critics or cynics

It blooms for itself - and itself only

And being true to itself, it has a thousand friends

who understand

I'm going to take this little flower with me.

Plucking it carefully, I stick it into my shirt, over my heart, and tap it knowingly:

We know better now, don't we.

I look back at the field once more

If I ever lose my innocence again

I know God will pick it up, and keep it safe for me

Until I decide to return