in the beginning

by Rachel Alberti


in the beginning, we bloomed like two sunflowers -
radiant, golden energy flowing about like
nothing else mattered, like
the soil we grew in was pure,
untouched.
in the beginning, we laughed with the stars,
our eyes shining brighter and brighter with
every passing moment.

but, with the good must come the bad, and eventually
that rainstorm did come;
it swallowed you up in its powerful rage, washing away
all of our hopes and dreams for the future.
i was taken in by that storm -
i was put under a rooftop of hope, as though maybe
I would be cared for again.
but no innocent flower can survive a storm like this one.

for the entire time i thought i was safe, i turned out to be wrong -
i noticed drops of water coming through the cracks, and i noticed
that the storm was more unstable than i thought.
all i wanted was to see the sun again,
to become capable of growing strong,
but it was those times where the rain would come down harder, pushing me
farther into the ground.

every storm passes eventually -
i just didn’t know this one would last this long.
as the rain cleared, i raised my head,
crossing my leaves and hoping
that this storm would be the last.
i miss how things were in the beginning.