(To Gabriel whose soul is born in every flower.
For all things seek to communicate)

COTYLEDON (Verse 2)

What does Gabriel like?

Gabriel likes this…

and Gabriel likes that…

Gabriel likes that when you turn to me
you become Queen of the Night…

you live for five-minutes at a time:
just to look at me—

to watch me become alive
and die.

Gabriel likes that you know of this Sacrifice:
of the longing to love

without attachment…

Gabriel likes those who can die a little

little by little each time…

and to try not to make a big scene of it;
to not dress up love with Shakespearean elucidations…

He likes that we do not love out of romance
we do not love for desire

we do not love out of pity

we do not love out of shame…

Gabriel likes this

and Gabriel likes that…

Gabriel especially likes

those

who can watch each other come to life
to live and to die

to see this right before our eyes…
and to close our lips to sleep
without want

wish

nor gain.

—

Homage to a cactus plant my mother has in her house: called “Queen of the Night.”

It takes great power to be beautiful and the plant spends all its energy to birth a flower from a Leaf…the flower stems straight out of delicate leaf. It is very magical: because it does not grow from a stem…

When it blooms—it does so only in the night. And when it awakens—it expands a life force with many universes inside. It is so thrilled—to just “be” (its full potential) for Fifteen minutes.

And then it closes its body—and dies.

A few days ago, two buds were staring at each other. They were having a conversation: one was looking at the other. It extended its neck to look at the other. It watched its “partner” become alive and then it watched it die.

It did not mourn, nor did its partner resist death. The next day, the bud turned its head slightly away and opened up its own life…and when it died after Fifteen minutes—they both returned to their natural state.

This flower, the QUEEN OF THE NIGHT, looks exactly the same when it is growing as when it is dying. You could not tell the difference. The only difference happens when it blooms—and when it has exhausted all of its life—and dries up.

Love and Life is like that.

It expresses itself like that. It doesn’t try to be anything other. It doesn’t “love for one another.” It loves for itself—because it knows only itself.

It is unselfish because it does not project. It doesn’t fight life nor does it fight death.

It is so happy to work this hard; knowing that it will once again…come back to life. Moreover, it is easily pleased to not distinguish or discriminate the difference between life or death. Such a flower serves willingly.

This is a very special Tree. It is made entirely of Leaf alone.

To made of Leaf alone means to be born out of a pure Seed.

There is nothing (no filter nor interference) between you and your reality: you are born a seed and manifest from that seed.

Thereafter, Fragrance is born as Experience.

–

Additional References:

Original, first verse of the poem: COTYLEDON (written August 31, 2007)

Photos (and other discussions on the plant): here

Scientific and Meaningless Descriptions:

Queen of the Night Epiphyllum oxypetalum
Cotyledon: the seed of a leaf