A Steel Flower

Once I was naïve and innocent And believed that everything was Heaven sent I was like a flower – soft and gentle Open to the slightest breeze’s pull I grew in unbridled sunlight Where everything was perfect and right But then there came the long, hard frost And in an instant life was lost The will to live vanished so fast And I became nothing but a steel cast A cast of what I once was My wounds bandaged with metal – not gauze I became resistant to the breeze Nothing seemed to put my soul at ease But I chose life over death And continued to take in deep breaths While no longer so easily swayed I haven’t lost all of my old ways I’ve learned it’s not always wise to hide And have come to embrace both sides Of my life and who I hope I’ll become Without forgetting where I’m from