The Glowing Flowers

Beneath the moonight the flowers look alive and glowing, their petals luminescent in the dark.

"Why can't I be a flower?" she asked, running a finger along the petal of a rose. "A flower with beauty in my breath -- I would give life and they would love me, they would love me, he loves you, I would say. He loves you, loves you. They would love me for my elegance, the elegance I do not have now. I would be loved and I would provide happiness, simple and pure, if I were just a flower. I would glow in the moonlight and light up the path for those too consumed in the stars to look down. Their feet would follow the light and they would never stray. I would be the protector of the innocent, if only I were innocent myself. If only I was that pure force of light, the one uncorrupt peace left on earth. If only. I would never die, but be reborn in the hearts of those whose eyes I opened. I would never need to cry and I would never have to beg for a boy's attention. I would be content to spread love to the innocent and I would I would I would, if only."

"The sun shone brightly today," he said. "Warm and calm and it breathes life into my veins, and you, you breathe life whether you are a flower or not."

"You are my flower," he continued, "walking into the light. You are my flower, and yes, he loves you, and you are innocent. I will protect you and we can spread love together and live forever. Oh, isn't that pretty? Wouldn't we be so beautiful saving the world? Us, two flowers in the moonlight, lighting the path and basking in the glow of the sun when it arrives to begin the day. Now, wouldn't that just be lovely? We would live together forever and we would be the epitome of peace and bliss. We would be perfection in petals."

"Oh, it's such a pretty picture you paint, so lovely. Couldn't you just see us blowing in the breeze and sleeping in peace with no nightmares or sheets trying to choke us? We could stay anchored to the ground with our eyes to the sky; we would never be afraid of our heads flying through the atmosphere, we would never be afraid of crashing because we are so steady in the ground. We would never fall down and we would never dream too high. Wouldn't it be beautiful? We would see eternity, the beginning and the end, and we would watch from the sidelines and we would just be together, nothing could get in the way of our love -- if we were flowers," she sighed, her eyes shining with hope.

"You're lovely, you're my beautiful flower queen," he said, staring into her eyes because he knew that they weren't flowers, that they weren't anchored to the ground, that someday his flowerchild would fly to the moon so far away from him, that someday they would drift onto uneven ground and lose each other. He smoothed her hair for what could be the last time and she was quiet in their empty path surrounded by life and love and peace and joy and everything she had ever wanted. He was everything she had ever wanted but her feet were not solid, she could feel herself floating though she tried to ground herself and somewhere inside they knew that their dream was just that; an enchanting dream that had held them in its spell for a moment in time.

"This is our moment," she said softly, touching the side of his face while the flowers looked on. His eyes were dark and he could feel her lifting from the ground. He held her hand and the floral scent of love surrounded them in their mystical garden, if only for a moment. She was floating and he wanted so desperately to float with her, but his feet were stuck firmly to the ground. Her eyes were full of sadness and her hair was a golden halo and she knew it was the end. She was not meant to be a flower of love and joy, guiding the way, but rather a bird, meant to fly away from love and roam the earth in silence.

"You are my flower queen," he said as her hand slipped from his.

"Our moment is fading," she said quietly, closing her eyes.

"It was eternity while it lasted," he said, "and I will not forget."

He watched as she rose above his head, out of their garden of Eden, away from him forever. Her dress billowed and she was like a delicate cloud, floating past forever and into breathless beauty. He watched as she drifted into the atmosphere and he heard himself exhale but he kept his eyes on the sky as he slowly turned and walked out of Eden, his path lit by the glimmering flowers.