Seed Poem I
\nAn Evolution of a Poem
\nBy
\nJoseph Anthony Petro<\/p>\n
I thought you might find it interesting how this poem evolved. I offer all three drafts. The first one stems more from the overt depression. The second opens to the reality of light, and the third, while still coming from the depression, remembers the many who love seeds, and thus sings the song of hope and healing.<\/p>\n
Seed Poem I, Version I:<\/p>\n
What must it be like
\nTo be enshrouded
\nBy darkness and the cold,
\nUnrelenting truth
\nOf the earth?<\/p>\n
What must it be like
\nTo have a heart
\nFull of light confined
\nTo husk and shell?<\/p>\n
What must it be like
\nTo be touched, softened,
\nAnd drawn upwards,
\nPalms open into the air?<\/p>\n
What must it be like
\nTo be invited heavenward,
\nBorn skywards, lifted
\nBy encouraging hands
\nAs darkness crumbles
\nAround you, and the mind
\nWarms, and the possibility
\nOf sky roots itself
\nIn your whole body
\nAs you spiral away
\nFrom brokenness, and rise
\nInto the rebirth of branch
\nAnd blossom, green and standing tall,
\nUnveiled, uninhibited,
\nIn the light of day?<\/p>\n
Seed Poem I, Version II:<\/p>\n
Shrouded in darkness and unrelenting earth;
\nA heart full of light confined to husk and shell
\nLongs to be touched, softened, drawn upwards,
\nInvited heavenwards, encouraged skywards, lifted
\nBy encouraging hands, so that the darkness crumbles
\nAnd its mind warms to the possibility of sky rooting itself
\nIn its whole body; as it longs to spiral away
\nFrom brokenness into the rebirth of branch and blossom,
\nAs it longs to rise, green and solid, unveiled, and uninhibited
\nIn the clear light of here and now.<\/p>\n
Seed Poem I, Version III (Final Version):<\/p>\n
The miracle is this:
\na heart full of light,
\nconfined to husk and shell,
\nshrouded by darkness and unrelenting earth,
\nis touched by a greater light,
\nis softened by darkness,
\nis drawn upwards,
\ninvited skywards,
\nborn heavenwards,
\nheld and lifted
\nby the encouraging hands
\nOf angels who have known the darkness too,
\nAnd it senses doors crumbling away as its mind
\nwarms to the possibility of sky rooting itself
\nin its whole body,
\nand it spirals away from its own brokenness,
\nand it rises high into rebirth,
\nand it grows outwards into branch
\nand blossom, where it stands unveiled, uninhibited,
\nPalms open in the clear light of day.<\/p>\n