Out of
the depths
of murkiness
begins a lotus.

Slowly it climbs
upwards reaching
and longing
for light.

Breaking surface
a bud appears,
waiting still,
suggesting
a latent promise
of opening.

Ready
for the right
circumstances,
many petals
open slowly,
unnoticed wider.

In a moment
a lotus soul
is exposed.

We are awed
by its beauty,
forgetting its
long journey,
clouded in
darkness of
unrealized
potential.