My Last Garden

I walked through the garden this morning
the flowers all bent their colors drained
by a sun that no longer remembers how to shine
the ground once soft beneath my feet
feels hollow now like something taken away
before I knew I had lost it

The roses don’t bloom the way they used to
their petals bruised from too much waiting
their fragrance gone leaving only a bitter taste
on the air the trees no longer whisper
secrets to the wind they are silent
and bent like old bones
holding on to something they cannot name

I don’t know why I’m still here
in this place that’s slowly forgetting
how to be a home there’s a shadow
where the light used to live
I find myself walking in circles
waiting for something to grow
but the soil is empty

I don’t tell anyone about this anymore
the way the garden looks after you leave it
how it forgets what it once was
how it learns to live without love
but I keep coming back
even though I know nothing will bloom
the same way ever again