you go so far in protecting the things you hold dear.. and then one by one, every small detail starts emerging.. from right below your feet, they start poping up, one by one, revealing masks under everyone elses names.. and you want to scream at them; run up and rip those masks apart because they were once a part of your own garden.. the one you'd been protecting for so long.. the one so conflicting you'd wade out deep into its flowers and spend days emersed in its entirety.

only now they're becoming destroyed. every petal. every stem. every root. every seed.. and they're all surrounding you - screaming at themselves about how proud they are - boasting their revelations - tearing their flesh in self-discovery ..

when really, nothing can be protected forever, and for once, they were all mine.

in the end it doesn't matter; in the end it's all shattered.