“The Secret Garden” by Linda M. Crate

i feel like i am an endlessly forgotten garden
where pretty things sometimes
grow,
and people only remember me
when there are flowers and birds and flowing waters
in all my pools;
but when i am dusty or frozen when there is ice and snow
no one offers me their warmth
they are parasites stealing all my love and my light
leaving me when i need theirs in reply—
sometimes it makes me sad,
but i try to remember to always shine even when
i don’t feel like i can;
because maybe some day someone will see my light and stay
even on my darkest days to listen to my darkness
finding beauty in all the places where i cannot
reminding me i have worth and value
that i am not just a whisper forgotten in a hail storm of wind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Linda M. Crate is a writer whose works have been published in numerous magazines and anthologies both online and in print. She is the author of six poetry chapbooks, the latest of which is: More Than Bone Music (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, March 2019). She is also the author of the novel Phoenix Tears (Czykmate Books, June 2018).