If I were

A Poem by Robyn Metcalfe

If I were a flower, I would be a Dandelion.

And my roots would welter like a thousand thoughts and ideas.

Yet for a moment you would forget I was a parasite

when a hint of merry yellow would catch your eye.

And you would say ‘Gosh what a pretty flower,’ without ever knowing I was a weed.

If I were weather, I would be grey drizzle.

Not torrent enough to disturb a life and not quite enough to water the Rhododendrons,

just enough to make hair frizz and clothes cling.

And you would gaze out the window to remark how you love the sound of trick-trick- trickling rain-

But I am not rain…and I am not beautiful when I fall.

If I were a colour, I would be red.

A colour engulfed in passion, unspoken words and poetry.

The red that blisters where you are kissed; the red dress she wears in the middle of the dance floor and the red that bites when you see her kiss someone else.

And you would say ‘Happy Valentine’s Day!’ and hand me a mass of red Roses because you think red means love.

I wish you hadn't cut the thorns off.

If I were happy, I would smile.

I would see the yellow in the dandelions, and I would hear the pounding heartbeat of the rain and maybe I would even see the vulnerable love within red.

But I am not happy, and it would not matter anyway.

Because to you, a flower is just a flower.