Reluctant Blossom

It takes time to grow into one's own beauty and character

 

Reluctant Blossom

 

I am beautiful

but never sure

as the darkest rose and dangerous,

my stems adorned

with cruel intended thorns

to cut you till you bleed

in a moment of raging sadness.

 

If you look close as braces on teeth

you’ll share the slight stink of my tacit fear

but ask and I’ll deny with my last

dying breath. My daggered tongue

says no to soft comfort,

your promised love, to

yellow daffodils of Spring.

 

I curse and won’t believe,

crying inside, rejection won’t come,

that you will stay near unlike

the young madré I never knew.

My olive toned beauty

could not keep me with her

from my first sad and forgotten moments.

 

The fragrant new blossom hope

of my fine-featured face

and volatile vivacious power

gives pause to bare-chested boys

and merry sleazy men my moms

have sagely warned, by word and deed,

so no baby will be born unwanted.

 

© 2007  David P. Eckert

Reviews

[Ron Cole]

Aaaah, growing up; it seems so fragile and then also ferocious for a young girl, especially to dads! I always felt so inadequate as a father when my daughter became a young woman; one day a friend of mine remarked "they learn sometimes in spite of us, not because of us"! What a relief that was to me!!

Excellent intellectual discourse, David!

[Doug Case]

This was lovely. It reminds me of my mother's all-time favorite saying (I think it might have been her senior quote, too):

"And the day came when the risk it took to blossom was less than the pain it took to remain tight in a bud." -Anais Nin

Well, maybe not so much - but it's nice, either way.

[Gandré]

This is a poem with psychological character. dubious, if it is a love poem, it's sad. Isn't it?

[T. L. O'Neal]

I enjoyed this, nice wording with a good meaning behind them. Beauty does come from within. T

[Krystal Waters]

I understand what you are saying. Sari is beautiful and she is asking a lot of questions. I wonder if she knows that you wrote this lovely poem for her? You are giving her a lot of hope and also understanding her as well. What a nice poem...


Kristine

[Benjamin L. Weekly]

Ok David I've read this several times and still have trouble understand. My brain must be severely limited as everyone else seems to have gotten the point. At first I thought the speaker was female but the third verse gave me pause as a male speaks. I am not sure but what I got was that you are speaking about the true beauty inside that refuses to be tricked by outward appearances and waits for another person of true beauty to be with. Right or wrong, that's what I thought.

[R George]

I love how you pair such delicate imagery with such hurtful things. Your intent, I imagine was to address the concepts of beauty, but I feel like you went further with it. You address the dichotomy of everything in a sense...much like the benefits we receive from HDTV as far as clarity is concerned, we are also presented with the falsities and realism of what the things and people we idealize represent. That is an odd analogy. HDTV...but I think it works here. Just look at Dicky V during March Madness, and you will know what i am talking about. Where there is beauty, there is also truth. Who wrote that..." The Things We Carry" That book addresses that. I am going to have to go and find it now.

[Antony]

David, this was packed with powerful sentiments of doubt and unforgiving anger. I believe this is what you wanted to portray. Beauty is only skin deep. Nice write.
Tony

[~crazy Beautiful~]

wow this is beautiful