What if We Told the Flower

By Chelan Harkin

What if we told the flower,
“don’t bloom”
and told the birds,
“don’t sing”
and told the petals,
“don’t you dare show your tenderness”
and told the bee
kissing the sweetest
part of the rose’s heart
“it’s uncomfortable to see
love given so freely”
and told the stars
“don’t shine, it’ll make someone scared”
and told the quivering bunny
holding itself beneath the shivering winds
“toughen up”
and told the morning sun
shining over slowly waking hills
enlivening everything,
“stop showing off”
and told the music within the wind to
“keep its voice down.”
These are the messages that have been given
to our souls
and quite frankly,
these ideas
really suck.

 

From Susceptible to Light: Poetry by Chelan Harkin, pages 158-159. Chelan’s third book, Wild Grace: Poems, was released this past Tuesday.

(Photo Credit: corina ardeleanu)