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Sun-kissed,
\nSky-shawled,
\nSunflowers
\nLook very different
\nFrom the way
\nThey start out–
\nLittle seeds tucked in hypnotic
\nSpirals, and yet sunflowers
\nDo not need to prove they exist,
\nThey simply open
\nTheir palms to the light
\nAnd say: “Here I am,\u201d
\nAnd everyone sees them
\nAnd everyone understands
\nSeed and blossom are not
\nTwo opposite ends
\nOf a spectrum,
\nNeither seed nor flower choose
\nTo be what they are,
\nThey simply exist,
\nAnd everyone smiles
\nAnd says: \u201cBeautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n
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You see
\nThe other morning
\nI stopped to marvel
\nAt a sunflower,
\nAnd as I stood admiring
\nThe strength to stand
\nSo tall, the dignity
\nTo shine so much light
\nFrom such a round, lantern face
\nI heard it speak:
\n\u201cI know you see me,
\nI know you see beauty
\nWhen you see me–
\nGo ahead embrace me.\u201d
\nAnd so I did.
\nWe swayed a moment
\nSlow dancing to the music
\nOf the early morning sun,
\nAnd as we did I heard it speak again:
\n\u201cI have moved on
\nFrom husk and shell,
\nI have moved on
\nFrom living hiding
\nIn the blind ground.
\nI am here now,
\nAnd you see me,
\nBut did you know
\nThere are those
\nWho do not believe
\nI exist? They ask me
\nTo prove I belong,
\nThey ask me to justify
\nMy being a sunflower
\nBecause they only knew me
\nAs a seed.
\nI know you understand,
\nI know you live as one of us.
\nHelp them to see.\u201d
\nAnd so I promised
\nThe sunflower
\nI would write this poem.
\nSunflower seeds
\nMay or may not know
\nThey are sunflowers
\nWaiting in the wings
\nTo bloom, in the same way
\nA sunflower can look back
\nAnd see it once was a seed.
\nFor all we know sunflower seeds
\nMight think they are, and will never
\nBe, something other
\nThan how they presently present, and if pressed
\nWith questions might ask one of their own:
\nWhat is a sunflower?<\/p>\n
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When is their moment
\nOf awakening, when they realize
\nThey have a deep, undeniable,
\nLonging for light?
\nIs it when they finally crack
\nUnder the pressure of trying
\nTo remain as they have always
\nAppeared yet for some
\nUnfathomable reason know
\nThey are something other?
\nIs it when their seams burst
\nUnable to withstand the pull
\nOf warmth and daylight?
\nDo you think it is possible
\nThey are frightened
\nWhen they finally lose themselves
\nAnd understand they really are
\nSomeone they never knew they were?
\nDo you think it is hard for them
\nTo dig through darkness,
\nTo push past rocks, to believe
\nAnother life awaits, where light
\nWill caress their hands and face?
\nOr do you think they believe
\nThat there is no possible way
\nA flower lives inside them?
\nThat they are still themselves
\nAs they weave through the dark earth?<\/p>\n
\nThe sunflower asked me
\nTo write this poem to reassure you:
\nThe essence of the seed is shadowed
\nIn their faces and more importantly, it remains is visible
\nIn their spirits, in the beauty
\nThey express to the world.<\/p>\n
\nThe next time you see a sunflower
\nEmbrace it gently through your misgivings,
\nKnow nothing is ever lost\u2014
\nThe shape changes, the beauty remains
\nOnly now it is held in the arms
\nOf the open, unconditional sky.<\/p>\n
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