01 March 2011

Simply.

O'Keeffe, Oriental Poppies, 1937


No, it is not yours to open buds into blossom.
Shake the bud, strike it,
it is beyond your power to make it blossom.
Your touch soils it.
You tear its petal to pieces
and strew them in the dust,
but no colors appear and no perfume.
Oh, it is not for you to open the bud into blossom.
He who can open the bud does it so simply.
He gives it a glance and the life sap stirs through its veins.
At his breath the flower spreads its wings
and flutters in the wind.
Colors flash out like heart longing,
the perfume betrays a sweet secret.
He who can open the bud does it so simply.

- Rabindranath Tagore

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