Thursday, May 1, 2008

Growing Down To Grow Up

“If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like day, for darkness is as light to you.” Psalm 139:11-12

Growing Down To Grow Up

Each person, a seed of infinite potential,
Skin encircling soul, containing all essential
Gifts and possibilities, undeveloped rose,
A bundle of curious petals anxious to unfold.

Unique and wondrous flower, embryonic pod,
Drawn out by Gaia's power, fertile womb of God.
Neath the crushing earth we wait then break apart,
Alone in perfect silence, peculiar way to start.

Each seed must burst asunder, shed its fragile skin,
Lose its perfect circle then begin again.
A skein of tangled roots emerging into birth,
Threads alive in darkness on a tapestry of earth.

Embroidered by an Angel, within and out of sight,
Silence wrapped in darkness, moving into light,
Pushing through the soil, the Gardener stands above,
Sending rain and weeding, each an act of love.

Delicate nascent bud pierces the emerald lawn,
Finally rising upward, after wending down.
A shoot, a stalk, a blossom…then the full bloom,
Symphony of brilliance, supple bursting plume.


Michael

1 comment:

Karen said...

Thank you for this beautiful poem. I will bring it to a thoughtful hospice patient of mine who has loved gardening.
Karen