You planted a seed
And I flourished
Growing, growing
Taller and stronger

My leaves expanding
My pedals blooming
My colors brightening
My scent sweetening

Your sunshine glowing
Feeding my hunger
Feeding my soul
My flower is beautiful

The rain came pounding
I survived
The lightening came shattering
I survived

But then you came
Stomping on my crown
Splitting my stem
I became broken

My sun stopped shining
My watering seized
My soil became infertile
My flower became sour

You stopped feeding me
I began to wilt
My colors became dull
I began to die

You left me hungry
You left me ugly
You left me destroyed
You left me to die

I sit and wait
For the sun to start shining
For the water to start pouring
To start over

But You dont come
So I'm left alone
Sad and wilted in the dirt
Stomped on and broken

I still am waiting
Waiting for you to come
And feed my hunger
To feed us

Extend a hand to yourself
Helpful, tender and warm
Giving yourself a high-five
Doing yourself no harm

Raise both hands, disarm yourself
Feel peace from hands to heart
Show some enthusiasm
Before your day can start

Hug both shoulders give a squeeze
Close your eyes with a sigh
Feeling your love with each breath
Even if you cry

Entwine your fingers, press palms
In gratitude for
Having come this far
While still wanting more

Give yourself a round of applause
Feel the joy indeed
Perhaps a pat on your shoulder
May be all you need

Dear Eliot, I wonder why
When members post their rhymes
You gave us all those choices how
To give some feedback every time

Like it, love it, leave a comment, too
Even click on “thumbs down”
The best is when a reader is moved
To send it all around…

Or when it’s picked “The Daily”
It feels like quite a treat  
when someone shines a “Sun” that
Feels marvelously sweet!

We poets see who likes our writes
Who sends them all around
But just what is the purpose for
Those mean, faceless “thumbs down”?

It feels good first
That punch you throw
Powered with adrenalin
Triumph!  you crow

Losing control
Each threat you shout
Driving Emotion prevails
Anger has clout

Primal howling
I  cannot speak
A volatile Damnation
Beneath my feet

A fiend unleashed
A dark winged thing
Wrenching the curtain aside
Madness is king

You’ve crossed the line
There is no doubt
Dimensions of cruelty
Madness wins out

No forgiveness
The devil cheers
Waylaid in selfish desires
Demonic fears

Fear holds its breath
Sardonic gloom
Too turbulent to control
Foreboding doom

Peace is exiled
No looking back
Thrusts of heartless violence
Repression hacked

Paradise lost
Cherished hatred
Surging over boundaries
Nothing sacred

Stuff of nightmares
Robs me of sleep
Letting go with a vengeance
Monster’s relief

I cannot bear
This heavy weight
Id’s inner realm
Desolate hate

Transcendence shows
All states of thought
Each a world unto itself
Not shaken off

Silence that grudge
Revenge aint sweet
It turns back on you like a
Missile seeks heat

I miss Vicki
Poetess sublime
Nature is her nurse
She wrote her essence every time

I don’t know why she left
Like Aretha, made me cry
Whatever drove her off
I just want to say good-bye

Her comments-wise, encouraging
With love she shared her best
You’re sorely missed, Dear Vicki
Farewell Dear Poetess

However I wasted my younger days
Wherever I wiled away precious hours
Whenever I gazed at the moon and stars
Whatever games that we played and pondered
Whichever adventure we went on then
Is exactly where my mind still wanders

Whoever I kissed and then held hands with
Whatever the spell from the sounds and smells
Whenever my heart was soundly broken
However I try silencing this hell
Wherever that loss is newly spoken
Whichever place causes the freshest pain

Whenever I think of the time in flight
By mistake flew into forbidden space
When 2 jets flanking me motioned us down
How they saw us as Eco-Terrorists
Flying to LosAlamos Power Plant
Where it is strictly restricted airspace

Whenever dad left-once on Christmas eve
However it unfolded felt tragic
Whatever Christmas comes around again
Whoever toasts to the joy of the day
Whatever the chance, gone was the magic
Whichever way we celebrate today

Whichever day Mother's Day comes around
Whoever I'm with matters not a bit
However I remember that morning
While feeding our son, “I love you”, you said
Then later, “I don't want to be married...
Anymore.”  That pain floods like tsunamis

However I try to stay in the now
Whenever the calendar reminds me
How my favorite youngest brother died
Whatever the details I sorely pine
Thinking of Sam this 4th of July
When he would have been turning 59

However my days have been wiled away
How often revealing one simple truth
*Where your treasure is, will your heart be, too  (Matthew 6:21)