Photosynthesis

"Nobody sees a flower; really, it is so small it takes time - we haven't time - and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time." ~ Georgia O'Keeffe

Today, I found out I wasn't invited to a friend's birthday party.
Today, I found out a friend had just got out of jail.
Today, I found out a friend thought I wasn't a friend.
Today, I found out many things and just one thing.

They changed. We all did.
Yet, this time I ran into a thorn and tonight, I am left to nurture my wound.

Some of my friends are just decorations, petals, seemingly false. Some of my friends turn out to compose a stem that support me, and even fewer run straight through the earth. Even fewer are my roots. Over time, the petals fall and the stem bends. I wither and die within every time. I need my one Sun. I need to be the Sun, and break away from this redundant lifestyle. I'm weary. What I have, I am grateful since I have lost, but still weary for I know that what I have I will also lose.

This is a photograph in Park Point, a small slice of the city outside Rochester Institute of Technology. It is a memory as well of a good friend of mine, Antonio Bush. He used to be a petal, the stem, a thorn, and now among my roots. He brightened my days at their darkest and raised me to my foundation when I was breaking apart. He walked ahead of me a little when I stopped to admire this little view to serenity. Looking again, I realized he was my little view to serenity.

I cherish those small bursts of light from my friends, those encouraging moments of photosynthesis to each our flower, and blossoming to more views to serenity. Though, we all need to take the time to see.