With love --- Jasmine

  

With love- Jasmine

I stretched my petals as far as I could.I just realised that it's not dark around me anymore. My petals were no longer glued together and I can finally see the world. I never knew the world around me was so beautiful. Mother plant had given birth to another jasmine  flower who looked exactly like me. As we both started talking the morning dew fell on my nose. We danced from side to side as the cool breeze stroked us . I noticed that there were many other flowers like us in the garden and many other mother plants as well. Just then I heard a jasmine screaming out loud.

                      I saw a lady standing near me detaching that jasmine from it's mother plant. Mother plant looked very sad. I was so angry that I wanted to punch that lady. Before i could do anything to her she pinched my neck hard. It was so hard that I couldn't breathe. She detached me also from my mother plant. I screamed out loud. It was painful. I couldn't even say goodbye to mother. I can longer give sweet fragrance for my mother. Before I could even recover from the pain the lady threw me into a basket.

                        I fell on top of a few other jasmine flowers who had similarly neck injuries like me. We were all orphans now. We had no one but each other.  I looked around to find a way to escape only to realise that I had no legs. I peeked through the air gaps between the basket to see the worried faces of the other jasmine flowers each one wondering who was next in line. 

    Some of us kept crying. Others were busy planning on how to get out of the basket.  I without any doubt was in the second group. Our discussions were useless because all we had was a stalk which i kept saying was my neck through which I use to hold my mother's hand. Minutes later we were brought inside the lady's house. There was no breeze nor was there sunlight. I hated the place already. I wish I had wings. 

       The lady put her enormous hands into the basket and picked some of us who happened to be on the top row.  Seconds later I heard loud screams of those flowers. I looked through the air gaps and I could only spot a ball of white thread. Nothing else. All of us were frightened. All we could hear were cries and screams. All our petals trembled with fear. But someone had to be the strong one in the group. I told them not to be afraid and to face life as it comes. They listened to me as I was consoling them. Whatever happens just let out your soothing fragrance and no one will huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrt yooooooou. Before I could finish that sentence she picked me  and threw me onto a table. I scanned to see what was happening around me. Suddenly I saw something. Something too unreal to be happening. 

        It was my friends and they were hanging on a thread with the thread passing through their necks. The light reflection from the silver needle in the lady's hand made my eyes turn small. The lady took me between her fingers. I could feel my petals turning cold. I was scared. She pushed the needle into my throat . I wailed in pain. It pierced my neck inch by inch. It hurt. Every bit of it hurt. I couldn't take the pain any longer . I closed my eyes and prayed for strength. I do not remember what happened next. When I opened my eyes i was also hanging on the thread along with my friends. My friends told me that I fainted due to the pain.

        We were taken to the market where the lady sold us to a flower-shop on the roadside. The shop looked colorful and it had the mixed aroma of all the flowers. One young man brought us. We were put inside a plastic bag and given to him. The plastic bag is the worst place on earth to be. There was no air. We were all coughing and gasping for air. It was extremely hot as well. After an hour of travel we reached a place .He took us out and put us around the neck of a statue of Mother Mary on a roadside . Finally we got to breathe fresh air. 

        Throughout the day many people passed by. Some lit the  candles. Some donated money into the charity box placed in front of us. I noticed that the rich people put coins in it and the poor put currency notes. Some people just touched or kissed the hand of Mary and left without spending a minute to stop and  pray. While others prayed for a long time. Most of them prayed in their mind. One girl maybe in her mid twenties came. She whispered her prayer. She asked Mary to help  her mother  recover from cancer. She cried a lot. She left after donating money. I felt bad for her. Me and my friends sent our sweet aroma to soothe her. That's the least we could do. 

         The day went by fast and now it was close to sunset. I noticed my petals were turning brown. And I felt like someone was strangling me. I had this same sensation when I was inside that plastic bag. Only this time there was no plastic bag. After the sunset it got worse. I was gasping for air. My petals fully turned brown. I was not able to give out my sweet aroma anymore. I felt numb. I noticed that even my friends were chocking and struggling just like me. I think my journey here on earth is about to end. I realized that the life on earth is a bitter-sweet experience. You will be separated from  our loved ones. There will be times when you feel lonely. You will be in pain . We will think our life is the worst until we see what others are going through. If you can beauty of life in the midst of all this hardships that’s when life becomes beautiful. Life is short and it ends when you least expect it. Im happy to say that I was able to give out my aroma to bring smiles to the ones around me. Wishing you luck in finding your purpose on earth.  With stories to tell my friends in heaven I depart with love. 

Love

The Jasmine flower