“Anxiety is the handmaiden of creativity," wrote T.S. Eliot. To help make productive use of our self-isolation and social distancing, Lit Cleveland is offering free writing challenges each week via our newsletter. The following piece is a response to the "Nature in Words and Images" prompt.

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Nature's Truth

by Angela Gartner

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It’s nature’s truth.
No frills, but only a root.
It gives out nectar and pollen for every insect that comes around.
It doesn’t whine.
It tolerates the elements.
Rainy weather makes it thrive.
The cycle breaks when someone plucks it from its natural state.
A wilted flower once strong and true was so lovingly given to you.
Blind to its new charm, we ignore the past.
It becomes a burden and nuisance.
Forgotten in a pocket of darkness.
The light didn’t shine in.It died where it shouldn’t have been.
The flower that lives in the grass knows nothing.
It doesn’t know the soft breeze comes from the sky.
It doesn’t know the sun’s brilliance burns its petals.
It doesn’t know laziness, happiness or heartache.
It doesn’t know its own beauty.
Sadly, do we?
Why are we bent on tearing our world apart?
Time for us to look at where we are going.
Not crush, pluck or command, but to admire nature’s candor.