This poem: submitted for Madison Woods #FridayFictioneers, 100 words or less. Please check out other bloggers’ great stories, excerpts and poems here.

 I like to keep things a lot happier on NiftiTalks, but the photo reminded me of the hurt that many of the young people I work with face everyday. Most of these young people rarely have anyone to confide in, leaving them very angry, and pushing them further into their cocoons to self-destruct.   *I wrote the original version January ’12 after consulting with a student. 
Your comments are appreciated.

                                                                            Photo Prompt by Madison Woods

A bud aches with revenge,
It cannot be restrained.

Its flowers shrivel by sunset,
Garnished with pain and regret.

Its wings, plucked.
A jewel sadly deformed.

Its roots will wither next
A presence it cannot re-erect.

But first it bows from the weight of its loss
and begins a quest to turn everything to dust.

So on the bud grows,
filled with the poison it sows.
Bile oozing from every pore
seeps into its very core.

Hence with every new bloom,
The promise of certain doom.