Daisy-white smiles widening with laughter,

hushed secrets spilling and turning cheeks

warm and rosy. 

Promises of love, of friendship, of care,

cut through thick fog and brighten faces.

Words dance through the air like dandelion seeds,

dotting the sky with morning stars.

Fleeting glances are shared without words,

lost in the lush forest of your green eyes

or wading in the deep blue of irises.

But just as fast as feelings bloom,

endless conversations drop off like

a cliff.

And like the jaws of a fly trap yawning open,

walls sprout from cracked ground and cast shadows

over blossoms. Darkness is no place for life;

the flowers wither and decay.

Skin that cuts like thorns and burns like ivy.

Words as sweet as hemlock tea

you push fingers down throats to get rid of.

Rotting smiles, yellow like daffodils,

teary eyes looking away as soon as irises meet.

And promises forgotten as those small seeds

settle in someone else’s yard.