Bud Unfurling

What is your body but a verdant flower
Upon which Wisdom - employing a deft
And gentle hand - tenderly, lovingly, lays back
Each velvet petal of your heart,
Unfurling a center of glowing light?

At this tiny, pearlescent core,
Lies a grain like sand - so small, so wonted a thing
That its existence is passed over without a thought -
This minuscule glowing grain at your softly pulsing core
Is a fragile thing, so light
Its weight will never kiss the earth.

No larger than a dust mote,
Its hue warm, living gold -

This slight, glowing speck of light
Is the pulse of life in our veins,
The draw of blood to our loins,
The ballooning gust of air to our lungs,
The wash of wild, incoherent fury
That colors our rage;
It is the indomitable breath of compassion
That breaks our hearts,
And saturates the petals of our souls.

This is who we are, this bud unfurling,
This glowing grain which lies
Indefatigably at our core.
We are as ever different from each as every bloom
From the other,
Save for one similarity, oft by Grace or Misfortune
Unconsciously guarded 'til Wisdom lays Its hand:
Our centers. Our glowing centers.