Petal Reflections
(Indonesia)
My pencil began to hum again,
a tune that felt like rain on banana leaves.
Then it dipped low,
and Jakarta appeared—
a city busy, beautiful, and breathing stories.
Skyscrapers grew first,
like bamboo shoots after a storm.
Then the pencil softened its step,
drawing the Istiqlal Mosque—
its domes calm, its arches kind.
But a secret floated up with the lines:
just across the street stands a grand cathedral,
and both share the same gate.
Two faiths, one fence—
as if the city had learned how to bow in both directions.
I smiled and traced their reflections
in the puddle below.
My pencil giggled,
“See? Even rain loves peace.”
When I signed my name,
a petal drifted from the sky—
pink, maybe from a frangipani—
and landed softly on the page.
✨ If your pencil could draw peace, what colors would it choose?