They Have Different Needs
Some seeds beneath the earth
are dormant.
They fell the last time the cool air
turned the leaves
gold.
Those seeds have different needs than we do;
let them go about their life
completely unharmed
by your views.
We have cracked open, we sensed
even beneath the earth—
the holy was near,
and are reaching up to know
and claim
light
as our
self.
–St. John of the Cross, Love Poems From God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, trans. Daniel Ladinsky, p. 312
