Weeds

What do you see when you gaze out across a garden?
What catches your eye?
Garners your attention?
Sure there are the gorgeous Blooms
filled with heady fragrance
in a riot of colors...
But what about the Others?
They may not be as showy
or as overstated in their blooms and hues...
Instead, prickly and scraggly-
But their roots go deep beneath the surface-
Deeper than you can imagine...
Often entangling each other deep below
They grow steady and hardy and return again and again...
Resistant and tolerant to Life and all the things that try and bring them down...
Gaining in persistence and numbers as they grow-
Stronger than when they started...
Often outliving and outlasting the Showy Ones
Whose blooms last but an instant-
To be replaced with a new crop;
Dried-up, dead-headed, and discarded is their fate.
But the Others endure...
They grow, and thrive, and flourish~
I root for Them!

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In the last few weeks, I started back to school- which is where I got my inspiration for this poem from. Middle School is all about the showiness, appearances; as kids try and achieve their place in the Social Pecking Order. Because of the classes I teach (special ed), I am usually drawn to the kids who are quieter, less self- assured , more the Underdogs of the classes. They are the ones whose roots tend to run deep and there is just so much more beneath the surface than always believed. They are the ones who will thrive and make a lasting impact once they have the guidance and self confidence to do so!

Have a wonderful week and make sure to visit OSI and see other interpretations of this prompt.