The Terror of Blooming

Would the air hurt you
Would the bird clip you   r petals
Would the caterpillar find you beautiful–
beautiful and delicious to consume,
to digest

Would you and the extension of your flesh,
open to the elements, displayed

splayed unto the world,
finally signed-on to participate,
meet death

To bloom,
is it less painful than to regret regrets?
than to resist the outing of your best?
than unrealized and afraid

tight and anxious in a bud
feigning to not exist?

Is blooming less painful than this?

Copyright © 2021 A.M. Wilsonne

Inspired by the quotation by Anaïs Nin:
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”