lotus

worlds apart

she still tugs on my heart

younger self wanders the halls of memories

flood waters rise up to receive her tears

fire consumes old flashes of pain

and there are still stories

she has never told

for when she utters the truth

the skin beneath is so raw, so exposed

the elements might rush to stain what was left unguarded. 

time spiraling into a palace of spinning words

ways of seeing the past are complicated by dense emotions

complicating what she wanted to be simple

still, flowers grow from the mud

lotus ascending

never ending

and love swoops in

picking up the pieces fallen so long ago, they have become

part of the floor, the garden, the house, 

stomped into the ground

until they don't make a sound.