D

DANDELION

Read by Alice

A dandelion in the midst of rose bushes would stick out like a sore thumb to ignorant souls

But I know the road this dandelion endured

This weed that all gardeners want to destroy is more appreciated by God than any seemingly beautiful bush of roses

Though that misunderstood dandelion won’t for long last

Let it be known that God gave it the role of the outcast for divine importance

My mother was a dandelion in the midst of roses

Ignorant of her purpose she uprooted her soul and unknowingly left herself for dead

It has been said that my mother when above the influence transmuted broken hearts into smiles

All the while dying on the inside

AIDS didn’t kill my mother

It put her at rest

Now this song bird whistles in the key of silence

And I the latter of five write poems documenting the struggle unknown to my family

The sickness she denied lies in my blood with a lesser value

People speak I don’t know how you can live with knowing nothing but owning the growing disease that your mother for so long fought

But see that’s the difference between a rose and a dandelion

Roses were created with thorns to warn hand approaching without caution, but

Dandelions were not given that option

But they were created by an all knowing God

And that all knowing God created dandelions with the strength to withstand ignorance and hatred

Dandelions live in this matrix of life understanding the price

Roses live like the world was handed

Dandelions take the world and won’t leave a rose stranded

But my mother died before she got the chance to realize that dandelions are blessings in disguise

She I dare say died before her time

That thought lingers in my mind conflicting my belief in the divine

My mama raised me in the faith that the day God sweeps you away is a day proclaimed way before the manifestation

But I can’t help but experience devastation knowing nothing about the woman who carried me toting guns in the defense of my father

It is even harder knowing nothing about her but knowing the reason the hospital has become my second home is because this dandelion

chose to roam with the buffalo

But I seek serenity in the fact that she just didn’t know

That she a dandelion was just as beautiful as a rose

And I will go forth knowing my purpose as a dandelion

This life is worth all the crying and all the dying I have to do just so someone in my shoes can live

I will gladly give myself as the sacrifice if it means that all the dandelions in the world become viewed as more than the consequence of sins behind closed doors

You can lay me on my back and present me lifeless to God if it means that dandelions with unseen scars will not be viewed as odd

But as gifts from God to show the world that beauty lies not in the petals of flowers but in the power of unconditional love

And in the strength of the untouched, un-hugged, sometimes unloved but most important of all un-budged dandelions