you are my world and everything outside it-

timeless and beautiful and hidden.

a pocket of space,

completely ours.

lonely but an entire universe,

stars burning out

and bleeding into galaxies.

you are my secret,

a ghost hanging over my shoulders,

but one day

this rosebud will blossom.

you

are a rosebud.

your unopened petals

drip with morning dew.

i will cherish the day your petals unfurl

and taste the dew on their scarlet skin.

i watch your leaves grow stronger.

and with your age and wisdom,

you grow thorns.

thick, angry thorns,

lashing out at the world.

as you get older you start to see

the world isn't what it was meant to be.

and so every time someone tries to

pick you,

you cut them, slice them away.

because once you're

picked,

there's no escaping the pain.

you just want to stay a rosebud forever.

A pale red,

Tangled leaves unfolding,

Hidden beauty slowly released,

A flower picked,

One left standing,

The magnificent of the rosebud.

Lila stared disbelievingly. ‘And was this the only time you found to be born?’ she asked as she bent with difficulty to touch the bud.

Oh, but the beauty of the unborn life, Lila thought as she caressed the pale yellow petals, silky soft, tightly furled into themselves. The warm, vibrant, deep yellow heart just visible if Lila peered closely inside.

“Look, Stan, two years of trying and it chooses now to flower!”

Stan laughed and patted Lila’s stomach. “Well, our efforts spanned many more years.”

Lila nodded, tearfully. “You know what we’ll call the baby?”

Stan nodded.

“Rosebud”.

Here is a home.

A petal blanket,

their pillow the stamen.

A small child

held within a bud.

Waiting to grow

and fly out on its own,

away from the rosebud

that is their bed.

To bloom as the flower

looks ahead.

Can rosebuds wilt?

Can they die?

Can something wilt and die before it's truly born?

Because now I wonder

Am I already fully-formed?

Have I already grown into my petals?

I must have small petals

Tiny tiny petals

That are already turning black

And curling

Like knobby fingers of a witch.