Bloom

Photo: Cosmos Flower/Jamie K. Reaser

If you were a flower,

would you let someone hold your petals

shut so that you could never bloom?

You are a flower…

The embodied floral essence of your Soul,

And I’m imploring you,

imploring you,

Resist everything and everyone that holds back

your most glorious unfurling!

The Heavens beckon you to reveal

your untamed beauty and offer your unique gifts

through acts of intimacy with the Sacred Other.

How tender the touch of butterfly and bee…

Feel it.

Feel it upon your own skin -

that potent co-mingling of

tenderness, intent, and outcome.

What are you waiting for?

Vow to leave nothing of benefit to

this crazy world hidden.

Vow to make vulnerable what the fearful ego

most demands you protect.

Vow to scream “Yes! Yes! Yes!” to the Cosmos at that

very moment you reach ecstatic heights of blossoming.

I don’t care if you are in a drumming circle, mosque,

or grocery store line…

The more public the better.

Inspire others to long for your courage,

and their own experience.

Scream, “Yes!”

Saying “Yes” in your own voice,

to your own magnificent display of beauty,

is the most powerful way of saying “No”

to anyone or anything that

would seek to keep you

closed up,

closed off,

shut up or

shut down.

Let me witness your radiance –

Let us witness your radiance –

Bloom!

©2010-2011/Jamie K. Reaser

Published in "Note to Self: Poems for Changing the World from the Inside Out" (www.hiraethpress.com)