The Secret Garden

The wind was laced with daisies
And she chased them across the meadow
The sun growing lazy
Falling down in the sky so low
She murmured gingerly to the butterflies 
Tender endearments of love
And tossed bits of bread so high
For the beaks of feathered doves
She laced her hair with twigs and moss
And stroked the petals of a flower
As her hands fell across
Bumblebees flittering that didn't make her cower
This was the secret garden
Behind the ivy threaded gates
It was the one place she went again and again
And each morning couldn't wait
To tumble in the kaleidoscope of colors
And climb the green branches that thrive
The child could not have been fuller
The little girl was happy and was alive
But one day she fell out of the tree
And she snapped her thin arm
Like a twig that snaps noisily
In the place that wasn't supposed to have harm
As the bone grew back close
So did the bitter herb inside
That told her to listen to her woes
Instead of telling them to hide
So she lost the key to the gate
And whined that she didn't want to pay the fee
But the excuses were born from the hate
For it was obvious to get inside was free 
After too many mornings slept away
She saw that the secret garden had cleared 
For no one went out there to play
But she couldn't forgive herself that it disappeared 
And when the girl asked mother about the garden
Mother said there never was a garden she could find
And slowly the girl began to comprehend
That the secret garden had always been her mind. 



-anna sluder 

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