The Modern Day Caveman

In a garden grew a tulip and a rose.

They began as seeds in the same soil, and over time they grew together – their roots intertwining deep beneath the earth. Through winter and summer, they continued to blossom. The garden was theirs, and their small patch of it was beautiful.

The tulip, filled with expression and brightness, stood open to the world.

The rose, filled with beauty and passion, carried a quieter kind of strength.

They were different in all the right ways, each inspiring the other to grow.

But one day, a shadow began to form. It stretched across the garden, slowly blocking the sunlight from the tulip. As it deepened, the tulip began to wilt. His colours faded, and the brightness he once carried started to disappear.

The rose dug her roots in tighter. She tried to shield him; she even tried to give him her own sunlight – and he loved her, even as the light within him continued to fade. But the shadow grew too heavy, and eventually, she knew she had to leave the garden.

It was only then, in the silence of her absence, that the tulip finally looked up. The shadow hadn’t disappeared – there had always been room for the sunlight. He just needed to see it, right there beside his rose.

By Charlie Brown

(The Modern Day Caveman)