Yesterday I was buried. Six feet under. There was no light. I could not see in the dark. When I opened my eyes, I was blind.
When I opened my mouth I was choked.
When I tried to shout, I was mute.
I could not breathe as my chest could not rise.
My arms were pinioned to my sides. I could not move.
There was space for my legs but this was unfortunate.
I couldn’t sit up so I lay on my back. There was no one else there because I was alone until I realised I wasn’t.
A monster lay with me.
I was cold. The earth was damp.
Yesterday I shivered and no one noticed except the monster, who liked to see me shake. So I stopped shaking and I turned into a statue because I didn’t want to be seen. The earth that held me, trembled for me instead and the trembles reverberated and were felt by the flowers who threw down their roots in alarm, reaching for me, making space for me to push through. These flowers were strong and they pulled me out, inch by precious inch; breaking, pushing, pulling and digging until one day I was rescued. I emerged, blinking in the glare and wondering what had happened.
Today I am the flowers. It took many years for my eyes to see without watering in protest because it was just too bright, but when I was able, I looked at myself and was surprised by my colours. I was yellow, blue, pink and purple, where before I’d been grey. Today I stand tall and I worried at first when I shook in the wind, but then I saw with relief that my stem didn’t snap, even in the strongest of hurricanes. Today, I bend and curl but rise again, stand tall again, when the winds die away and the sun comes out.
I turn my head towards the sun Today and smile when I feel the heat on my face. Because I didn’t know the warmth existed where I lived Yesterday, when I was six feet underneath.
Today I have my sight and can see that I’m in a meadow. That I’m not alone. I have others around me. Growing and blooming and smiling at their colours. I know they feel the gentle heat on their faces too.
Today, I take a breath, and I speak. I speak and I speak and others hear me because my voice is clear.
Tomorrow I will have grown even higher. I will have found a way to become the sun. My light will shine so brightly that others will turn their heads towards me. Not because I have great power or arrogance or importance but because I can warn the world of what lies beneath. I will shout about monsters that reside underground with the Yesterdays, the blind, mute, pinioned and choked.
When I reach Tomorrow I will shout and shine, The flowers who turn their heads will listen and throw down their roots, rescuing the stuck ones – the Yesterdays, and pull them up to Today, so they can live their Tomorrows too.The monsters will remain, crawling beneath. Worms. With nothing to feed off except themselves and each other in the dark.
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