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The First Petal

His name is Darius,

A lonely man who binges

On his own self misery,

And chugging bottles of Jack Daniel’s whiskey.

 

One lonely night, wasted and high

He is on his laptop

Perusing the Personals section, greeting each profile with a melancholy sigh.

Self misery awash, who would want him, society’s biggest flop?

 

An advertisement reads:

“Magic Flower Guaranteed to Find Love.”

He thinks, “This fulfills my needs.”

And he clicks, thanking the gods above.

 

It takes him to a website that asks for his Credit Card.

A thousand dollars in the hole,

Credit score forever marred,

Loneliness has stolen his soul.

 

Upon his doorstep he finds,

With morning dew still glistening,

A rainbow colored, five petal flower.

“I can bring two people together, no matter what kinds.

Use when lonely and passions are flickering

I cure relationships turned old and sour.”

 

A sober mind takes in his purchase with blind panic.

Chair, desk, laptop, walls — broken with a punch.

This is why the neighbors call him a manic,

For he flies into a temper quite a bunch.

 

In a hurry, flower in his shirt pocket,

Whiskey in hand,

He takes off like a rocket,

To the nearest park where he is unfortunately banned.

But no one is around

So he settles on a bench to

Listen to the sounds of the town.

 

Distorted face streaming with tears,

Darius enters the cradle rocking phase.

He prays, “Someone please, help me with my fears!”

— A gentle hand on his shoulder leaves him in a daze.

 

Standing above with bubble gum, pixie cut hair

And luminous blue eyes and freckled face

Is a woman showing some care

In an awkward space.

 

She sits, moving the bottle away,

And says nothing — yet

Keeps the tears at bay.

Darius says, “I’m lonely, unhappy, and in a lot of debt —

“My neighbors, my boss, the collectors, all they do is threat.”

 

“I’m sorry you feel this way,

Would you like to talk?”

And Darius replies, “I’m not sure what to say,

“I did a stupid thing today, and I’m still recovering from the shock.”

 

“We all do stupid things every once in a while,”

Said the girl with the bubblegum hair,

“But it’s best to lay things bare

So you can move on, don’t be scared.”
Convinced, Darius told her his foolish purchase,

And pulled out the five petal flower,

He’s feeling silly, stupid, and worthless,

As the clock tower sang the fifth evening hour.
“It’s a pretty little thing, I’ve never seen anything

Like this before.”

The girl wrapped the vine around her finger like a ring,

And said, “I wonder if you can get more.”

 

To this Darius laughed a hollow

laugh, Soul full of doom,

“Take it, rid me of my sorrow

The collectors will take everything soon.”
The woman smiled a wry smile, hugged

Darius and dislodged a glistening

petal. Alas, the bubblegum woman released the drug,

And ended up saying,

 

“Come to my flat,

We’ll get this sorted out.

I know you have your doubts,

But your collectors and I will have a little chat.”