Letting Go

Ask a flower what it means to bloom
and it will tell you another story
than this. 

Stand pretty,
be the belle of the ball,
drop your kerchief,
so all nature falls hapless to your charms.
 
No, no--
 
In the spell-binding clarity
of a Midsummer’s morning
it performs the revelation.
 
Prostrate yourself in prayer
before the sun that gives and takes,
feel each petal soften
before it loosens and falls.

“There is no courage without fear,”
said she, who had endured.
To bloom is to let go.
​
 
On Midsummer's Day, 2025.