Insecurities
A beautiful flower in the midst of trees
Reaches for light
But is shadowed by insecurities.
Talked down to by towering presences,
The seemingly less desired attempts to grow higher,
Paints itself,
Gets thinner,
Puffs out its chest
In the place where light barely shines.
The trees notice and ohh
and ahh
But their bending puts the light out of reach.
The flower makes more changes,
Cuts off its petals
Tries to be a tree.
A flower trying to be a tree
Is a flower with insecurities.
A fake tree is a thing without beauty.
--Ethan Seevers (Grade 11)
2 comments:
WOW!
What insight!
You know, it's not just teens that feel overshadowed by those around them, but anyone that is truly sane. There's always something to admire in someone else, and there is the temptation to feel we aren't good enough. Well, we aren't. But that doesn't mean we have to become someone else. A flower can't become a tree and shouldn't want to, but it can strive to become the best flower it can possibly be. I'm now 71, and I still struggle with my own insecurities, but I am a unique creation of God. How do I blossom in the way He intended?
So true, Ed. Perhaps this feeling of insecurity is less a problem when we grow older. We more easily accept who we are, our limitations and our failings. I wouldn't want to be a teenager again for all the world!
I think this poem is one of Ethan's best. He is maturing as a person and as a writer.
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