Cut brambles long enough,
Sprout after sprout,
And the lotus will bloom
Of its own accord:
Already waiting in the clearing,
The single image of light.
The day you see this,
That day you will become it.

Copyright 2002 by Jane Hirshfield from In Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women, edited by Jane Hirshfield (NY: HarperCollins, 1994.)

Posted with kind permission of the poet.