Hydrangeas

Michael Lipps

I feel numb and alone
Life is dark and unfeeling
unremorseful 
I remember seeing that corpse
Nothing but bones and remnants of flesh
Blackened and shriveled by the elements of time and nature
Skin once once warm and soft
Now ice cold to the touch
Everything this person was
And could’ve been
Is gone
To another place

Unknown and incomprehensible to the human eye and imagination
There was one lonely flower
Sky blue petals neatly packed into a ball
Aroma so attractive and soft yet complex to the nose
Sheltered by walls of rotted flesh
Protected by the remnants of a rusted cross
In that boy’s still clenched hand 
Seeing that hydrangea
Somehow gives me certainty
That everything will work out in the end
This flower turned something horrible and mangled
Into a home

Now whenever I see the sky blue petals of a hydrangea
I see hope for the future
That in happiness or death
Everything will work out and I won’t be forgotten
My body will become a sanctuary for all
And not a single inch of my flesh will be wasted
As long as nobody picks that hydrangea from my skull
Or moves my body from those woods
Or touches that cross in my hand
I won’t be forgotten
I will be taken by nature
And I will sink into the darkness
And everything I was and could've been
Will be taken to that place Unknown
Beyond the vastness of the human mind and the reality that we undoubtedly live in