as a flower

I peeled off my armor

I removed the shoulders, arms, chest, and weight around my heart. I found a rock, encapsulated in moss.
I brushed off the moss and day by day smoothed the hard edges.
I learned the rock was debris holding a seed. I didn’t know what the seed would grow,
and while I wondered, I prepared the soil.
I took the decay, the discarded parts of myself, I took the things others didn’t want.
I alchemized it into nourishment.

I embraced the companionship of my thoughts, the nomadic synapses searching for signals, attuning to vibrations that blended me to the universe.
I untethered and in simplicity I found ecstasy. I planted the seed, and learned to tether again.

I observed and practiced altruism, I gained. I became curious, I began buzzing. I felt contained. Before I broke through the shell I acknowledged the wealth I already had. Gratitude didn’t make me complacent, I shed the skin and wriggled through to the light. I burst through the soil and into the sunshine. Rain poured on me, drenching me in my decision to grow. Some days were dry, and hot, and I wilted. But the soil was dense, and I was never without what I needed.

I found a rhythm, I watched the birds and worms in the daytime. I followed the stars and moon at night.
I grew roots, I was ambitious to reach the sky, I got closer and closer everyday. I saw others like me, we danced in the wind. I saw a future of abundance yearned to spread my wealth. One day I bloomed, with soft petals and sweet nectar, my fruit was pollinated. my fruit decayed. I died into the soil,
and began again as nothing.