2022 Spring Fling Contest Entry
ONCE WE WERE WEEDS
By Danna Zeiger
Word Count: 149
I am participating in Ciara O’Neal and Kaitlyn Leann Sanchez’s SpringFlingKidlit contest.
Special thanks to the organizers for this incredible opportunity. Thanks also to the prize contributors for such exciting potential rewards!
On a perfect, sunny early spring day, I took my kids on another homeschooling adventure. We found a patch of the longest dandelions we had ever seen. We had a field day playing, plucking, smelling, and weaving these forgotten and discarded dandelions. Watching my daughter's natural excitement and enthrallment over conventionally detested weeds inspired this story, ONCE WE WERE WEEDS. If only we could all see the world as kids do.
I made a gif from a video I took of her that day.
Once we were weeds.
Uninvited.
Unwelcomed.
Unloved.
Although we glowed like yellow sunlight,
summoning sweet spring,
the people did not want us.
When the frost passed,
while other flowers slept,
bees and butterflies drank our nectar.
Our seeds lined hummingbird nests.
Our petals fed chipmunks.
Our roots strengthened the soil.
We were a plant with purpose.
Still, we were not wanted.
And then… she found us.
This child that saw
our beauty,
our strength,
our worth.
She weaved a golden crown,
linking long limbs,
decorating her hair.
Watching in wonder, people learned.
From long taproot to petal tips.
We are edible.
We are tea.
We are a cure.
Now, we are wanted.
The child watches us bloom
white, fluffy seeds.
Our head like a full moon after the sun has set.
She closes her eyes,
takes a deep breath,
and whispers.
Once we were weeds.
Now… we are wishes.