I feel the sun on my leaves
The sun is warm
I am happy
The sun has reached its zenith, blazing and burning
My leaves slowly whither
Rain should come soon before I die
Then the gardener comes out,
Picks up a watering can,
And goes down each row
I greet the cool water,
Feeling refreshed and alive again already
"No," says the plant next to me
The gardener raises his eyebrows
"No," it repeats, "I don’t want water."
"The sun is too hot. Rain will not come for a while," the gardener responds
"I like the sun," the plant retorts
"But you will whither without water."
"No I won’t…if I think that there is water…there will be water."
The gardener tries to reason, but the plant, it does not listen
"I will come back," the gardener says and he moves on
"Why don’t you want the gardener’s care?" I ask
The browning of the little plant's leaves begins
"I don’t need His help. I can survive on my own."
The gardener comes back
He tries to reason with it
It won’t listen
I try to reason with it
It won’t listen
Eventually the plant dies
The gardener shakes his head
"Why," I ask, "Why did it reject you?"
He looks at me with tears in his eyes
"Because it didn’t want me. It thought it could survive without me. It was wrong."
Then the gardener picks up his watering can and walks away.
