This flower alone,
which at once
is beauty
is rooted in beauty
and whose petals
reach out to beauty

This flower alone,
whose quiet song is drowned
by the blasts and by
the evening news
of the modern world

(but is heard
by the lucky few
who bend to listen)

This flower alone,
and the ambrosia
it plants in every cell
of my being

This flower standing here alone,
living proof of wonder;
living proof of hope;
living proof of beauty;
living proof that God’s love for humanity
has not lost its devotion.

This flower alone,
who sits patiently like
a prophecy waiting
to be known

This flower alone,
like a messenger in the dark of night
telling me
that everything
is going to be
alright

This flower alone,
is enough to change my life forever.

The glittering distractions of the information age vanish
and there is only me, the lover,
and you, the wonder.

And if the only beauty alive in the world was this flower
and if all the rest was chaos,
this flower alone,
would still instruct me by sensation
that I am held in the arms
of something greater.

And if my whole life was colored by darkness and destruction
to one day be so blessed as to just behold this flower,
that alone
would be worth
my birth
and my dying.

This flower alone

has
in a moment
deprogrammed my mind

to eat faith and not fear
to wait on joy and not sorrow
to expect communion and not solitude
to face the fires of the world with this unwavering knowing
of beauty and all the fruit it brings.

This flower alone,
in its unassuming tenderness and grace
has in a moment
incinerated my grief
like sweetgrass in the flames
and left behind only the
scent of what is real.

These eyes can see
finally
the beautiful song sung
all around.

And if I could rest
in this place
for just a moment
I would remember who you are
and who I am
and where we are
and how it is supposed to be
for everyone.

See more of Lyla’s writings at http://www.sodizin.net