“ her inner beauty “

As the days grow shorter.
A cold wind whispers to the trees.
And the leaves begin their journey.
Carried in the winds of Autumn.
Into the rivers and streams.
Some will travel far into the oceans of our world.
A few will be chosen.
Directed by whispers in winds of Autumn.
Into the lakes and ponds where the Lotus lives.
Where they settle into the cool dank bottom.
As the years pass they form the rich mud.
From which the Lotus or her cousin the Lilly live.
Only there in dankest mud will she live.
For she makes her home in places no other flowers will grow.
Here she will grow to be one of the rarest and most revered.
For her unique beauty.
One petal at a time will open over the course of days.
In the still water were little else will grow.
She will slowly reveal her inner beauty.
Then ebb back into the cool dank water.
From which she emerged and the mud where she lives.
Only in the latter days of Spring when the first warm breeze.
Send ripples across the pond whispering to the then warming mud.
That she will awaken and rise to reveal her inner beauty.