Zinnia

There's a space in my garden

Where an orange zinnia grows

It stands out among the rest

It's color is different

It's color is bold

Though it tends to try to blend in

Among the grass and other flowers

Which to me are unremarkable

The petals

Oh, the petals take your breath away

Far, far from ordinary

A bright orange

Just the petals causes all around to stop

But the glow coming from its yellow center

Is underrated and truly special

It is beautifully imperfect

Few notice it, but when they do

They never stop

I breathe in its scent

Indescribable and indefinable

Only to say it is unmistakable

I allow the scent to fill me up

To carry me away

I know I shouldn't

The scent is forbidden

Big misunderstanding eyes find my orange zinnia

For some reason it's not right

Its glow cannot stay in my garden

The big eyes have hands

They take it away quickly

But carefully as if not to harm me

What will replace it?

A tall stoic sunflower?

A daisy that grows too close to the ground?

These will have to grow in another place

For that spot was for an orange zinnia

There's an empty space in my garden

Where the zinnia belongs

And felt safe

Its glow was brighter than ever

My eyes gaze upon the space

I hold onto a memory

Of an unmistakable scent

And an underrated color

And a glow like no other

(I know the picture's not of a zinnia. No one's perfect. But I'd say it's pretty good for being taken by a Walmart camera.)