.....with many leaves
..........(big and protective leaves)
.....and a strong stem.
It was young
.....with bright eyes,
and it was old like a tree,
with rings and rings to show off,
layers hiding layers
.....of winters and summers
..........and joys and sadness.
I don't know what it was made of.
It had so many petals
.....I couldn't count them.
I tried -
.....But lost track of the old insights
..........every time I encountered a new one.
That made me happy.
The sunshine loved it
.....and it thrived in her attention.
It stood up tall,
.....and proud,
..........a lighthearted beautiful thing.
I remember when I discovered it.
I glanced at it in passing once,
.....smiled
..........and winked,
And it smiled back at me.
(we were flirting)
I turned sideways
.....willy-nilly and nonchalant
and held it forever in the corner of my eye.
Somehow I knew,
.....even before I counted the petals
..........or listened to its song,
that this was not an ordinary flower.
We spent a lot of time together after that, it and I.
Sometimes I went to look for it
.....and sometimes it found me
..........(I enjoyed being found)
Mostly it found me.
So often I tried to sketch it
.....(with my pens and paper and squinted eye)
I never could.
Every now and then it left me in tears
.....of joy
..........or sadness in its unattainability.
Once I almost captured it
.....and though I never finished,
..........(and never will)
That sketch made me happy.
Mostly I just stared
.....and stared
Because it mesmerized me with its perfections
.....and the slight blemishes
..........(only a few)
.....that made the beauty so real.
