THE GARDEN INSIDE ME ❋ Anoosha Lalani

I swallowed a seed
from an orange tree
and it grew and grew
ever so slowly
in the garden
of my shrinking belly.

Older now,
ripened fruit weigh it down,
as it befriends a butterfly,
The sweetest, softest kind.

She is you
and she is me.
She is but a feeling

that once was
smaller than an egg.
You see

I have a strange addiction,
I feast on things that haven’t lived,
but when inside
they burst forward—
The energy of an angry hive.

Filled to the very brim
There is no space for more
So we parted ways
Belly up, powdered soul,

A garden shaped hole.