i don’t know who you thought i was
but sadly you are mistaken.
take your dirt from my palms
and create weeds in your own garden.
i am planted firmly in my dwelling
even if some days i weep and let the wind tear the leafs from my stems.
sure enough, my bark is striped with lessons from childhood
and red stained adolescents.
the sky licks and grooms my budding flowers
and sends them winds of relief from the overbearing heat at noon
and
you…
you are not allowed into this sacred place.
your thorns and bent knees that only praise glory and never pain
could never understand the spines of my past that have twisted and turned
to form the heart shaped petals that have wilted
and grown,
wilted and
grown,
wilted and grown
and remained.