Far and Wide

Sixteen

A letter to myself

Dear Sunflower,
I am proud of you. I say this first for I know you never hear it enough especially from us. You fight so hard for others acceptance with the noose of never being enough caressed around your neck, knotted yourself.
We have been your most deadly prosecutor for so long and for that we are sorry. Instead of encouraging your warm heart and gentle ways, we poisoned you with hate and turned you to ice. We covered your sun for so long you adapted to living without its warm embrace. We sent you toxicity and deceived you to believe it to be nourishment. We conditioned you to see love as a threat to the fortress we have helped forge around your heart. With all this being said....
                              The war is over.
The time has come to break that fortress and aluminate the welcome sign. It is time to greet all restless travelers and invite them inside. It is time to allow the love and affection we starved you from to nourish your now frail bones. It is time the poisonous vines that have hold of your heart to slither away and be replaced with loving arms. It is time for the sun to come out, for you to absorb all it's warmth and light. It is time for you to be the sunflower you have always meant to be. It is time to plant a garden of them on the once cursed ground so you never forget what you are.
It is time for you to love who you are.
Love always,
Sunflower