While traversing through the woods one day,
I met an old and wrinkled woman on my way.
She said my luck would change for the better,
And gave a magic seed in exchange for my heifer.

Excited, I skipped to my home at top speed,
And in a pot with moist earth, planted the seed.
In a few days, I clapped with joy unbounded
When two tiny leaves shone as the seed sprouted.

I thought I should keep the pot on the window sill
So that the sunlight would help it grow as well.
But that night, I saw quite the scariest dream
In which the plant was stolen away by a thief.

Afraid, in another room, I hid the precious pot
Away from prying eyes in a safe secluded spot.
There, I poured a mug of water in it every day,
And for it to bear the magical fruit, I awaited.

Each day, I spoke to it about my soaring ambitions.
I was so in love with it as if it were my own creation.
Days passed, and the two leaves turned to four,
And, then, the entire plant turned a pale yellow.

The leaves fell, and the stem drooped and wilted.
It didn’t take me time to know that it was dead.
O! Woe! The magic with the plant was snuffed,
And the thing that did it in was – my excess love!

My love for the plant had transformed into greed.
My possessiveness and protectiveness had blinded me
To the extent that I could never recognize nor see
That it was actually smothering the life out of the seed.

A little sunshine and rain were all it needed
To grow and bear its magical fruits unheeded.
I wish I had understood this much much earlier,
But now I’d lost the magic … as well as my heifer.