“Stars open among the lilies.
― Sylvia Plath, The Collected Poems, “Crossing the Water”
Are you not blinded by such expressionless sirens?
This is the silence of astounded souls.”
There was an opening in the forest far, far away from town that no one had entered in decades. Murmurs in town said that there were midnight lilies there: a mythical flower that only opened when the moon came up. Some said they would sing and lure children to their death, others said they could grant your deepest wish, but no one dared to find out the truth, until one day, Lila, a bored daughter of the shopkeeper, skipped work to go pick flowers in the woods. Amazed by the beauty of nature, she kept walking and walking until she didn’t know where she was any more. By then the sun was beginning to set. She tried to retrace her steps, but found herself in an unfamiliar clearing filled with flowers that hadn’t yet bloomed. Lila, being a young teenager, hadn’t hear the stories of the midnight lily and went to pick a few. Flowers in hand, she picked a direction and continued trekking toward what she thought was home, only to become more lost as the darkness settled. Scared and alone, she sat by a tree trunk and listened. But instead of hearing the sounds of wild animals or late night drunkards, she heard the soft sound of singing as the flowers in her hand began to bloom…..
Hello my little friendly geckos, thanks for the read! Just a reminder that you can see get a free copy of my poetry collection, The Moth that Haunts the Laundry Room, on Prolific Works. If you want to support my creative endeavors, you can also purchase the book on Barnes and Noble or Amazon. Don’t forget to check me out on Instagram (thegarrulousgecko) and twitter (@theheckingeck) for herpetofauna photos, poems, and more! If you write something based on one of my prompts and want to share it with me, I’ll even post it on the website! Happy writing, and don’t forget to subscribe!
LAMP 