Garden of Evil

Author's Note: This poem was inspired by Stevenson's constant reference to the duality of man. He proves through Jekyll and Hyde that every person has two sides to them and whichever personality is given more attention ends up dominating over the other. Jekyll experiences this when he describes, "that part of me which I had the power of projecting, had lately been exercised and nourished; it had seemed to me of late as though the body of Edward Hyde had grown in stature..." (113) It's a slow fade, but when you feed the bad, the evil, and the immorality, it eventually grows into a garden of wrong intentions.

Dry, untouched
A speck of small desires
Deprivation of attention
Of the springs of life
Across the rocky ground
There feeds color
But here, only hidden thoughts

The dark clouds roll over
The scorched earth cries out
Drops of hell fall to the cracked soil
A wet sense of relief
Hits the underdeveloped seed below

Dominating, forceful
The stronghold breaks through the land
Towering the innocent petals of youth
Growing swiftly alongside the storm

Hiding humility
The night brings forth temptation
A new form of life breaks lose
Seceding former morality
Feeding future intentions

Hungry for so long
Finally nourished
The arid earth rejoices
Flaming with iniquity

Morning interrupts the sensation
Sun pouring in with hope
But the garden remains
Forever quenched by the night's storm