Sunflower🌻for Emily

Ghost in the Garden of Time

A sunflower bends toward the fading sun,
its golden face heavy with songs
that never left my throat.
The ghost of the musical voice
rustles through the petals,
a lawyer’s case folded into the wind,
both carried away by clouds
that never waited for me.

The moon hurries across the sky,
reminding me of time’s relentless chase.
I walk beneath its silver light,
my hands full of duty,
my arms cradling the future of my children.
Their laughter is the only music
I can still compose,
their dreams the only case
I can still plead.

Yet the ghost lingers... she hums in the shadows,
her song unfinished,
her faith buried with the one
who once believed in me.

But even in haunting,
she is proof I dared to want,
that I reached for the stars
before the night grew too long.
And though the world may never hear my song,

Or the court may not see my fight for family cause,

the sunflower still blooms,
the clouds still drift,
the moon still listens...
and somewhere in their silence,
I am still singing...

I am still fighting...

~ Copyright © EmperatrizV @Sunflower for Emily, 11 June 2026 - All Rights Reserved

Wilderness of Romance

Caught in the wilderness of romance,
Two souls dancing on the snow
White Christmas still lingers
At the edge of a Forgotten Land...

I watch them... their closeness a flame
that warms the frozen air,
and I feel the hunger of a lantern
never lit for me.
One man, once admired,
still glimmers like a star
I cannot touch,
his brilliance reflected
in the way he crowns her with light.
The other... my own...
remains a silence,
a river that never reached my shore,
his gaze withheld,
his tenderness a promise
that dissolved into mist.

So I stand between two shadows:
the star I followed,
and the river I thirsted for.

Their laughter becomes a mirror,
showing not only their joy,
but the ache of my hands
still empty of devotion.
The snow writes its parables,
flakes falling like unwritten vows,
and beneath its veil
my heart carries the weight
of two men... one remembered,
one withheld... both teaching me
how absence can carve deeper
than presence ever could...

The Silence He Left

Black fedora under stage spotlight with golden sparkles, symbolizing tribute, memory, and loss in a free verse grief poem.

He’s out of my life,
and the words taste bitter,
like something I never wanted to say.

I keep asking myself
if I held back too much,
or gave more than I should have.

The truth is...
I don’t know where the balance was,
only that love slipped away,
and left me holding silence.

He was part of my youth,
woven into the rhythm of my days,
and now the absence feels heavier

He’s out of my life,
and I can’t pretend it doesn’t break me.

* This piece was born out of the song “She’s Out of My Life”.

Its mood has always stayed with me, carrying the ache of loss and the quiet questions that never find answers.

Back in my teenage years, his music was more than sound... it was presence, comfort, and a companion through growing pains.

Now, even as time moves forward, I still grieve.

I miss him, not just as an artist, but as a part of my youth that shaped who I became.

Writing this poem is my way of keeping him close, even in silence.

She carries silence
like a second skin...
hidden aches folded
between the laughter,
pains tucked beneath
the rhythm of her hands.
Her love is a language
without syllables,
a prayer whispered
into sleepless nights,
a sacrifice that blooms
in shadows, unseen.
The world sees her smile,
but not the weight
she trades for ours.
Her words unsaid
are the roots of our strength,
her quiet endurance
the shape of our tomorrow.
Today, we honor
the unseen,
the unspoken,
the unbroken.

When Silence Speaks

When breath dissolves into the air,
And time forgets the weight we bear,
What waits beyond the closing eyes...
A dawn, a void, or soft disguise?

Is death a cradle, rocked anew,
A birth reversed, yet passing through?
Do memories fade, or linger still,
Like echoes bending to the will?

The ones who cross cannot return,
Their lips are sealed, their voices burn.
Yet in the hush, a whisper stays,
A shadowed hymn of hidden ways.

Perhaps it feels like being born,
A gentle veil, a world reborn.
Or maybe silence, vast and deep,
Where souls lie down, at last, to sleep.

And though we ask, and wonder why,
No answer drifts from those who die.
So we remain, with hope and fear,
Listening for what none can hear.

~ Copyright ©EmperatrizV @Sunflower for Emily, 26 March 2026 - All Rights Reserved

Still Walking

AI generated image

I have walked through many seasons,
bare hands carrying bread and burdens,
a single flame in the dark,
a mother’s voice steady against storms.

I have known the silence of rooms
where laughter once lived,
and the ache of asking favors
that never find their way to lips.
Sometimes it feels as though
I am asked to walk until the end,
my footsteps fading into dust,
my heart still beating for those
who no longer need my arms
but whose futures I cradle in prayer.

I am not as strong as I was,
yet strength still lingers...
in the way I rise each morning,
in the way I hold my children’s names
like hymns upon my tongue.
Savings folded away,
memories stitched into years of labor,
I pause now,
freelance hours scattered like leaves,
wondering if the worth of staying
is measured in the love I give,
or in the quiet endurance
of a soul that refuses to let go.

God, I ask You...
let me remain,
let me see their paths unfold,
let me guard them a little longer.
I do not seek riches,
only time,
only the grace to stand beside them
until their roots are deep enough
to hold against the winds.

There are nights when headaches
press against my temples,
and tears blur the pages of my prayers.
Yet even in sorrow,
I whisper gratitude...
for the years already given,
for the chance to love,
for the strength to walk,
even when the road feels endless.

I am still here.
Not finished, not forgotten.
Still walking,
still praying,
still holding the future
like a fragile flame in my hands.