Cactus

I felt the gentle touch of your hands
carefully avoiding all my thorns
giving birth to a flower
reserved only for your vase.


I poured out my whole heart
squeezing the love out of my every cell
bursting into a flower
created from all of my essence.


As you reached for it my thorns got in your way.
I could only hear the sounds of your steps
as every one of them took you quietly away
from the only love I was able to give.


I watch as my heart dies
in the slowly withering flower.
When it is gone, a hollow skin
of a cactus remains in a desert.