A lioness roars ferociously
in my feline heart

She claws up my throat,
and tears open my mouth

Then jumps out,
and slinks across the plains

I grow out of the child-
a curious bud unfolding
its peculiar petals to become
a wistful bloom.

The child does not grow
out of me-
it stays there, planted
in the soil of my heart;
a reminiscent seed.

I got stranded
on the way to perfection