The earth was in ruin

Trees gone, seas dried

Those 100 men had done it

And now they were running from it

One girl stood up

Her name was Rose

She had a green thumb like no other

She worked against those 100 men

To fix what they had smothered

She started with seeds they left behind

And grew them into gardens

Her lush rows of flowers and food

Were catching the eyes of those she persued

Those 100 men fell upon her

And took her to a cell

They locked her up and forced her to tell

All of the secrets to her growing spells

She swallowed her fear and told a half truth

"Plants will speak to you if you let them

Their leaves turn yellow when they need water,

or white if they need more sun"

Those 100 men left her there for a while

Working hard, experimenting

Rose could tell they were frustrated and tired

One day, one of the hundred blurted out

"I say we take the girl with us

Have her do all the dirty work"

And a murmur of agreement ran through those 100 men

Rose sat in her cell, scared as could be

And try as she might, she couldn't see

From bars they had put her behind

But she heard constant clanging and drilling and flame

And knew they were building something with a great metal frame

It took weeks but finally

Those 100 men let her out of her cell

Only to cuff her and lead her to what they had built

It was a rocket

And before she could take it in, she was boarding it

They forced her into a suit and a helmet

And then it was takeoff

She trembled along with the rocket

Wondering what those 100 men wanted with her

It took days but finally

They reached their destination

They forced Rose out of the rocket doors

And she had never missed greenery more

They were on the moon

You see, those 100 men

Had spent their reign of terror

Stealing up plants and water

To make their own utopia

They wanted their own palace

Their own playground

And so they chose the moon

Because like them it was cold and unyielding

For several years, those 100 men worked hard at making their own home

All the while, Rose was gardening, but sometimes she did roam

She wandered to the rocket that had brought them all here

And she studied it the same way she studied her plants

For several years, she plotted escape

And eventually her plan took shape

When the moon turned from the sun, those 100 men would sleep

And Rose took action while they laid inside their cushy houses

She gathered up all the old oxygen tanks that they no longer used

Rose had cared enough for the plants that those 100 men stole

That they began producing oxygen

She gathered up axes and shears and dangerous chemicals

And she set to work destroying what she had made for them

She cut down the trees and ripped up the vegetables

And doused the lilies, marigolds, and sunflowers in acid

And finally, she began cutting away at the rose bushes she had tended to so carefully

She surveyed her work

She was done; there were no more oxygen sources

Those 100 men would suffocate

As she made her way back to earth

She boarded the rocket

This time a pilot instead of a prisoner

And she launched into the sky

Smiling, happy, that she had left behind

Those 100 men who had left the earth to die

She thought of the half truth she told about the plants

And smiled a bit more

She knew that simply tending to the plants wasn't enough for them to thrive;

She knew that those plants needed love to truly be alive

She smiled wider still at the fact that those 100 men could never have loved any living thing.