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Breaking ground

We planted fifty seeds and
Within a few days, the carrots peeked through in wispy green threads,

Followed by the gentle emergence of newborn basil leaves

The soil seemingly uninformed and undisturbed as nature took its time to take its course

Until…

One morning we awoke to find

An eruption had occurred in one of the pods,

A clump of saturated soil no larger than an ice cube

Jutting outward and upward

A chunk of earth elevated

By a force yet to be seen

Like a bowl of leavened dough for bread

Like a granite outcropping alongside the highway

Or

tectonic plates shifting continents, one under the other
Below the surface

One tiny squash seed

Felt so much pressure that

Rather than easing into a piquant sprout like its neighbors

It would be a rocket

A rebel

A force to be reckoned with

Something powerful inside that seed had made up its mind

Deep inside

To push its way through with all its might

Uninhibited

Unstoppable

Unnoticed

Until…

(Almost) unexpectedly

A hearty, curvy stem and leaf presented itself victorious before the rubble it had created

As if to proclaim its will

To break free

To grow

To thrive

To fulfil its purpose

To become