Petaled Shoulder (2011) Poem by David Joel Rodriguez

Except rainy days; none at last!
All for me and alone on the grass.

You wept and you wept;
at times you even slept.

Your place to be,
right next to me;
though, it was not me,
that you would see.

A perennial type I was;
overhearing the buzz;
filled with all kinds of fuss.

All through the year,
you released your fears;
nourished me with tears.

Night after lonely night;
sharing your cries...
Giving me sighs,
Under mackerel skies.

Wish I could ease your hurt;
soothing happiness I'd insert;
comforting your discomfort.

Your tears mauled my petals;
Your heart refuses to settle;
Always plucking out several...

A pretzel out of a plant?
Such feelings you decant?

'Ignored my pain...so my bud you rub?
Irresolute pain...now down to the nub? '

Clutched between your tips I was;
Twisted and yanked from my vase...

'I was alive; having blossomed cause of you;
I survived; yet died, due to your point of view'