Hero: Black Tulip: Self Archetype Poem

 A mindful gardener

Black Hero Tulip: Image created by Marilyn Glover with Canva Design

Today marks week 13 of the 15-poem journey of my debut poetry chapbook, Shadow's Reprieve, which explores Carl Jung's primary archetypes: Persona, Shadow, & Self. This week's poem, Hero: Black Tulip, tells the story of a love relationship's demise, using a nature setting as inspiration for a spiritual awakening.

Let's take a look at the poem, which you can listen to and read along with on my Substack podcast.

Hero: Black Tulip

My tulip garden flourished for seasons.

Seasons,

until you came along.

Along like a dream.

Dreamy blues.

Blue-eyed you.

You made me believe in love.

Love, ours bloomed like my tulips.

Tulip-aligned, for the wrong reasons.

Reasonable certainty.

Certainly,

I harbored doubt.

Doubtful of your sincerity.

Sincere, my dear–you were not.

Not who I thought.

Thought processing; mind made clearer.

Clearly,

tulips didn’t die inadvertently.

Inadvertent death; not my flora.

Flora,

My beautiful garden.

Gardening from my heart and soul.

Soulful.

My tulips held a part of me.

Me–I was complete.

Complete.

Until the tulips sensed your aura.

Aura-related, you were a weed.

weeding,

Me–parts you felt invasive.

Invasive.

No, the aggressor was you.

You dug up dirt,

dirtying my yard for nothing.

Nothing discovered.

Discovery: You are not what I need.

Needs, I thought about my own.

Owning

all my skills, my green thumb.

Thumb,

yours– you kept me under.

Under your power.

Powering

over my entire being.

Being broken, turned a stone.

Stone-turning moment; a black hero.

Hero Tulip, a rare find.

Finding her in an empty patch–

patched my heart,

heartening my intuition.

Intuitively,

I knew you planted my head full of lies.

Lies concluded.

Conclusive: you were a looming shadow.

Shadow cast to a sun’s new dawn.

Dawning,

my spirit with fertility.

Fertile; our futile love.

Love myself, and let you be.

Be still, my soul.

Soulfully,

all my tulips returned.

Returning since you’ve been gone.

Behind the Lyrics

Hero: Black Tulip was inspired by one of my nature walks when I saw a lone black tulip in a garden. Fascinated, I stopped and snapped several photos, admiring the beautiful flower. After returning to my home office, I sat for a while thinking about how much a nature sighting meant to me; soon my poetry verses were born.

After reading about the black tulip, I discovered spiritual meanings, which made my soon-to-be lyrics personally significant.

Spiritually, black tulips have multiple meanings, including:

• Individuality & Rebellion
• Mystery & the Unknown
• Power & Strength
• Rebirth & Renewal

The name "Hero" nods to the flower's practicality: a sturdy, strong stem with substantive petals that hold the heavy spring blooms up against rain and wind.

Historically speaking, "Hero" points to the long-obsessed Dutch grower's mission to find the perfect black tulip.

A combination of a lovely nature sighting and flower research prompted the lyrics for my poem about a woman gardener who realizes her love affair isn't healthy for her overall being.

Becoming more personal, the verses directly relate to a relationship from my past; a person whom I found quite charming upon meeting. We met in early spring, and initially I was convinced I had met my Prince Charming.

With time, however, the fairy tale began to fade. The Prince's demeanor changed. He became jealous, obsessive, controlling, and verbally abusive. His mood swings were far too much to bear, and little by little, I started losing sight of who I was.

Like a flourishing garden gone wrong, the blooms died, leaving me with nothing but weeds.

Eventually, the garden came to life again, but only after the invasive plants, the unwanted growth, were destroyed.

The poetic uprooting refers to when I finally left the real-life garden pest (my partner) behind and planted fresh roots, resulting in beautiful new flowers ( a life with possibilities).

In a sense, "Hero" also means becoming my own hero because no one else could save me.

Final Thought

Like many of my poems, I incorporate personal experience with moments in nature to create stanzas with great meaning. I share the intimate parts of myself, hoping my words reach another in their time of need.

If my poem resonates or piques your interest, consider checking out my newly created YouTube channel, where I am rerecording my Substack poems, including read-along onscreen lyrics. So far, I have published two episodes.

 Grab your copy of Shadow's Reprieve, available now on Amazon in paperback and ebook and across all major Draft2Digital retailers.