I'm vertical

But I would rather be horizontal
I'm not a tree with my roots in the soil
Sucking up minerals and motherly love
So that each March I may gleam into leaf
Nor am I the beuaty of a garden bed
Atracting my share of Ahs and spectacularly painted,
Unknowing I must soon unpetal
Compared with me, a tree is immortal
And a flower-head not tall, but more startling
And I want one's longevity and the other's daring
by Sylvia Plath