Stuck in time 

I’ve held my breath 

Waiting and waiting 

Closer to death 

The roots in my lungs 

Winding along my ribs 

For three long years 

My love for you did not dim 

Despite what I told myself 

What I spoke to others 

How I cared for you no more 

Yet, I still could not love another 

For three long years 

I’ve held on to these feelings 

Watching you fall in love 

Thinking I was healing 

But your flowers grew and grew 

Tickling my throat 

Your blossoms began to darken 

Thorns pricking at my heart 

Love turned into obsession 

I began to fall apart 

I no longer want to grow your flowers 

Their beauty long gone 

I no longer wanted to be trapped in 

This one-sided love 

So, I began to snip you buds 

Untangle your vines 

Thorns cutting my fingers 

Pulling at my spine 

Then, I finally reached your seed 

In my heart 

Long since lost its glow 

Yet, still looking like a work of art 

Gripping on tightly I tug and pull 

Scared of losing these feeling 

Of losing you 

But you were already long gone 

No point in holding on 

With one final tug 

I let you go 

And for the first in a long time 

I begin to breathe 

Artist’s Statement: “The inspiration for both the poem and the cover art is from my own one-sided love as well as a made up disease that I found online called the hanahaki disease, an illness born from a one-sided love where a person in a one-sided love will cough up flower petals and the only cure is to get them surgically removed, but you completely forget your feeling for the person you love.”