You were my garden
I tended your soul
Pulled up the weeds
Ugly black things
Planted some pink roses
Your favorite, I thought

I watered you
And laughed with joy
When you started to blossom
I put up a pretty white fence
To keep the goodness in
And the blackness out
I stood over you
Protecting you

Then one day
I had to tend my own garden
I left you for a while
Whispering promises of return
I tidied up my soul
There was no one to do it for me

When I came back
The roses were gone
Uprooted, replaced
With dandelions
The fence was gone, too
Barbed wire curled around you
Harsh and cold, keeping you in
And me out

You laughed at me
And the lilacs in my soul
Then you uprooted yourself
From my life
Moved your garden somewhere
Far, far away

I cannot find you
I don't think I want to
Rain falls on my soul
As I sit there among the lilacs
And tell myself

Never again
Will I tend another garden