Misspent Youth: Flower Shrivels on its Stalk

[virtuoso]

Beneath the sun's hoary gaze,

a providential shield buttressing

a paternal rampart, a delicate

flower, in its short season blooms

on a firm, but rocky soil; its green

stalk protruding, over carefree days

brooding, spiring above the steep

slope of life



No nutritious store retaining;

through the darkest of nights

a succoring dew falls, but

brittle leaves fail to soak in

sprinkled drops of guidance.

In the toilsome, noonday sun

wilting pedals shed their color,

sallow eyes droop, ignore the

distant, bright vistas, where

fertile dreams are embedded



Nitrous-laced rains fall,

but cannot funnel into

the hard, shallow facade;

In its callous hole potted,

leached of all responsibility,

spins out of control



Winds of change blow hard, and

listless stems flutter aimlessly,

becoming loosely attached to

their grounding stalk.



The cold frost of rejection

covers, dazing shallow roots, now

confused, penetrates even deeper,

breaching the familial bond



Now, the blight of dry rot

shadows, then preys on

the fragile, hollow shell,.

In turn, weak-minded tendrils

are yoked to the corroding

element. Now anchored

in a sinking moor, the

shriveled flower dies

inwardly, rots outwardly