approximately 1,020 words

 

 

 

 

 

 

TWO GOLDEN BLOOMS ©

by Mercedes Pecunia

 

In a land of wondrously vivid winter fantasies, there lived a queen whose heart was as cold and impenetrable as one of the many awesome frozen peaks within her vast kingdom. The graceful monarch had smooth alabaster skin that was shockingly chilling to the touch. Her lengthy ivory tresses were rumored to have been woven by numerous hideous spiders that were allowed to remain within the castle in exchange for their dutiful service. Her beautiful pale blue eyes resembled icy pools devoid of life or emotion. And her heartless glacial stare frightened even the most loyal of her subjects as her towering lanky feminine form flowed smoothly moving ever so quickly through the brightly crystallized corridors of her fortress. She was truly a majestic spectacle of exquisite frigid and lifeless monstrosity.

During the late afternoons, she walked within the confines of her inanimate garden where she loved to behold the loveliness of the tranquil snowy quilt that reached for miles all around her. The sky was like pale cobalt and the polar winds caressed her lovingly. She treasured the moments when she could walk unwaveringly over frozen creation. This was the time when all life surrendered to the omnipotence of winter.

She continued afoot, but she sensed something was horribly wrong. She felt it deep within her soul and more atrociously; she saw it with her own incredulous eyes. She let out a scream that reached high into the heavens. It was a piercing shriek that rang painfully within her head. And there, next to her svelte feet, was a pair of creatures that dared defy her ultimate authority so blatantly and indifferently. It was excruciatingly difficult containing the raging emotions that stirred inside her. Her attempts to remain unmoved, unconcerned were overpowered by the uncivil fit of violently fierce spasms of every single muscle within her body. She walked about in countless circles and eventually marched to the very center of the garden where she spitefully peered at the abomination before her. She reached over to fiercely pluck out of the ground what had caused this raving dismay. Instead, she paused for a moment and observed them cringe before her as they stubbornly clenched to one another.

There they were. The frozen enmeshed petals of a pair of delightfully awe inspiring tender golden blooms that sought only to survive. They incessantly shivered as the cruel wind carelessly smote their fragile little frames. Unwillingly, they swayed back and forth anchoring themselves to the unyielding land beneath them. The more they struggled for stability, the more the land would resist them. Finally, in a moment of unavoidable vulnerability, the manly sprout collapsed. He fought furiously to draw the life giving carbonated air into his stalky lungs, but it was to no avail. The queen burst into a maniacal laughter. She had lost control of her senses and seized the moment to savagely obliterate him. She mercilessly dislodged him and flung him into the powerful untamed winds as she continued cackling hysterically heightening her frenzy.

The other little blossom viewed this spectacle in horror as her faithful companion swerved disoriented. With each uncontrolled movement, his leaves gained perilous speedy momentum until finally, he disappeared from view. The queen gazed her with contemptuous reproach and smiled triumphantly. She abandoned the little flower to helplessly drown in the loathsome profundity of the marsh of remorse and painful frustration.

Endless moments passed. The little one was removed from the spot where she lost her mate, the plot they had chosen together, and was forcefully placed where the queen had commanded. The queen was outraged when the young bloom refused to thrive. And for weeks, her leaves slowly deteriorated into a dull olive colored hue, her little petals became soft, dark, and foully wilted. Her weakened stem was unable to support her disillusioned silhouette any longer. She refused drink, she refused the scarce nutrients from the infertile earth, and she even refused the aid of the revitalizing dimmed rays of the morning sun.

The capricious queen was bewildered. She had tried all measures to revive the frail little figure, but all her attempts were futile. The queen demanded that the tiny flower renounce her fruitless contention and regain her loveliness immediately. The floweret arrogantly ignored her plight and persistently continued her uninterrupted path of self-extinction. The queen, unable to control herself, snatched the flower into her clenched fist, violently threw her on the ground, and repeatedly stomped on top of her until her mourning foliage had been brutally dismembered.

The disfigured bud had lost consciousness. She remained this way for some time. And when she was able to open her seedy little eyes once more, she felt herself floating on a bed of water. She was too weak to linger and again drifted into the land of blissful reverie. Then, her petite trunk felt scorching warmth, which gradually increased until she was forced to open her eyes wide and examine her surroundings. She was blinded by the majestic healing rays of her father, the sun. For a brief instant, she saw his compassionate face and the empathy in his beautiful luminously golden eyes. She felt his precious heated kiss and his wonderfully delightful embrace. She spotted him directly above her, holding her, loving her. But abruptly, she descended and the distance between them grew and grew until she wondered if she had ever seen him at all. She closed her eyes tightly as she continued to fall, refusing to witness the blurring shapes that were before her.

Powerfully, she tumbled onto the nourishing womb of her earth mother. She felt the moisture of the milky dew contained internally. She delighted as her earthy scented roots penetrated the earth and invited her to sink ecstatically deeper into its welcoming touch. And when she opened her eyes once again, to her complete surprise, she found her long lost partner unharmed beside her. At once, she wrapped her leafy arms joyfully around him and looked up into the universe, where father sun smiled at them sharing in the rapture of this blessed reunion. While on the expanse below, mother earth lovingly embraced her little saplings as she assured them that she would never lose them again.