Brown Thumb

This is so embarrassing
please don't judge too harshly
but I need to unburden my soul
and tell you secret things

I have a brown thumb

* the collective gasp is deafening from
all the gardeners reading this*

Seedlings start so joyously
filled with new life
they care not a wit
if they're tree or weed or tuber

But somewhere they learn bitterness
in the struggle to survive
fighting other plants
for nutrients and sun and soil

Some just whither and fade away
others won't give up
and live a stunted life
but a few seem to thrive on adversity

Then it hit me
it's my life I'm trying to grow
and the seeds were planted long ago