What do you see?
Thursday, June 28th, 2007The Last Petal
© By Carolann S. Wallace
Perfect as a rose petal
Watch as it endures
The blooms fight for their life
As they are surrounded by knives
For what they know best
Is the blossom of their hearts
They live in the moment they open
Hopes to achieve, reside in their minds
Petals come and petals go
Stop to watch as they appear
Appreciate the colors and smells
Learn from them while they are here
For they will disappear
No more chances do they get
They cannot be forgiven
For they must open and if they don’t
It is the end
Some will arise to the occasion
They are beautiful in every way
Every chance they get
To send sweet aroma in the air
To fill the days with colors so fair
But the life is short
Because they opened, they must fall
The fall to death
Conscious of the life they lived
Are they successful or
Do they suffer in agony
as the last petal falls
___
Someone sent me this poem today. At first, I had trouble understanding it. Emotively, it felt downcast and confusing … my simple mind refused to comprehend. On any other day, I would have evilly feigned comprehension, to maintain, if not augment, the aura of superior intellectual understanding. But I couldn’t … I just felt choked, cloistered in a tiny box. I wanted to know what it meant but I couldn’t place a finger on it.
In my one-dimensional pessimism, I had inferred that life was very final. That regardless of anything we do, we would still die. Nothing could change that, nothing else was more certain than death itself. It felt so depressingly resolute in its statement.
Which beckoned the next accompanying wretched question,
”What’s the point of living?”
___
Perplexing indeed it was until another email popped … and my friend so succinctly clarified …
“ Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap,
but by the seeds you plant…
And if you’re going through hell, keep going and never give up.
Energy and persistence conquer all things! ”
___
Blind. I was so blind.
I missed the forest for the trees.
She opened my eyes.
“Perfection is never easy as we are always surrounded by negativity, by people who’d like to pull us down. Perfection needs to be lived now and not later … if we do not strive to open our eyes and ears to the wonderful world around us, we achieve but one thing … death … for we are not living. Concentrate on fulfilling your destiny … share with the world all that is great about you. Ultimately, we will all leave this world … but the choice is ours; do we do leave as the perfect petal or a wasted, shriveled shell?”
Life can seem so utterly difficult at times … yet a lot of times, its a matter of perception. Why waste time looking at a glass half empty? Sometimes, we concern ourselves so much on the bad that we lose sight of things that matter. Who amongst us lives a day longer longer by worrying a day more? So live the day productively, working towards that greater goal, not the simply the mere 5Cs … cars, condos, cash, etc … but rather … the pursuit of happiness.
___
What do you see?
