The wellspring of joy and meaning,

  a precious gift from the muses.

  The wind that stoked the flame of life,

  the drive to create.

  A passion of myriad origins

  that leads to the same road.

  A fan fiction, it may have been,

  but the advent of a new adventure.

  A desire to see an alternate path,

  which animates the pen in my hand.

  A branch then leads to a seed,

  and creates a unique tree.

  A sapling of unsightly figure,

  yet nonetheless delightful to raise.

  And so, it begin, the first of many,

  which will one day become a garden.

  Though my passion was seen,

  and my efforts acknowledged,

  yet still I do not find,

  one who admires.

  Attempts were made, sweat was shed,

  yet the fruits of my labor were savored by none.

  “It’s fine,” I said, for the act was joy,

  but soon I witnessed a fact I cannot deny.

  Still, I pressed on, and I found compatriots,

  but their flames burn not as brightly.

  And so I said, “One day. I need only wait,”

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  Oh, how foolish I was to have so much faith.

  More seeds were planted, more trees were grown,

  still no one was there to adore its glow.

  Continue, I toiled,

  satisfied by the act alone.

  I thought, one day,

  “There has to be another way!”

  So I lay my hand on my mouse,

  and clicked away.

  A digital world, I ventured,

  an ocean of possibility.

  Here I will find passersby,

  who’ll no doubt stay.

  “Admirers, at last!”

  As I said with giddy.

  For a time, for a place,

  I was not needy.

  The years passed, the seasons changed,

  and the seed of a new beginning was planted.

  A magnificent fruit it shall produce

  should the tree be maintained.

  Alas, a storm passed, and the tree fell.

  The fruits, once sweet, now bitter.

  “One day, again,” I said,

  “but not today.”

  Sparks flew, but none remained.

  The furnace continues to be cold and grey.

  A sprinkling there, a nudging here,

  but never amount to any greats.

  The storm passed, and the sea calmed.

  Once more, I am home.

  The soil of time grew richer,

  and it was time to grow.

  Bushes raised, crops sowed,

  step by step, the garden’s whole.

  A main attraction, it still lacks,

  thus began the woes.

  A long, fraught journey,

  of countless trippings.

  Alas, I arrive,

  at the seed of destiny.

  The tree of my soul,

  The light of my life.

  A marvelous, thrilling goal.

  A story worth a thousand nights.

  Alas, compatriots I found.

  We share, and dance, and laugh,

  around the campfire of words.

  Truly, a sight to behold.

  Months passed, and the tree had grown mighty,

  its leaves and branches tended by two.

  In the future, it shall bore a wonderful fruit,

  but not yet, not when there’s much work left to do.

  My stroll in the garden near its end.

  New flowers blooming from the seeds I plant.

  Though the path is short, and the care is scant,

  My heart is content.