Bloom

The smallest seed will confess it’s hard
To sink in the ground and dwell in the dark

 Blackness surrounds
Water drowns
And softens shell ‘til it splits open
While heart cries words which can’t be spoken
Now the seed within is exposed 
But after breaking something grows

Out of seeming death and breaking 
A seedling stirs, a new life making
Up it pushes - though it’s hard
Up it pushes – through the dark
Toward the surface, then bursts through
Up from death, sprouts life anew

Finally blue skies and sunshine above
A moment of warmth, of strength, of love
You push upward, reach toward sky
Leaves unfolding, stretching high
A tiny bud and then a flower
 Growing more splendid by the hour

Yet but a day or maybe two
Of glory, vigor, splendor, and bloom
Soon petals drift like ashen embers
The place you stood, no one remembers
It seems to the eye like all was in vain
Why were you here just to wither and fade

But stoop low and look to the earth
At all the tiny seeds you birthed
Scattered and sinking deeper still
Soon to give the earth it's fill
Of fragrance, joy, and beauty