During a time

when everything in me

seemed to want to close off,

tighten against the unknown…

Deeper still I found

the desire to open

to soften

to unfurl, like a secret,

a rosebud.

This was the invitation

amidst the chaos.

This, what my soul

had been waiting for

and what the mind feared most.

This quietude

solitude

darkness

the very soil

I needed most

for this soul’s purpose

of opening