Release Me Poem by Suzanne Hayasaki

If I am a seed drop me here.
I will send my roots into this bedrock.
I will stretch my first leaf to meet the sun.
I will be patient.
I will persist.
I will resist the elements
That would ravage me.

I have chosen this place
In the face of this cliff
Above the shelter of the Buddha's cave
Because I need nothing but the sun.

Here I will stand.
Here I will grow.
For here I feel energy flow
From the very center of all being.

As that heat rises through my limbs
My branches will spread out higher and wider
Until this crag becomes covered with my life.

What was once barren will be green.
What was once exposed will be sheltered.
What was once inhospitable will house
A jungle of tiny lives
In the one tree
That I will become
If you release me
Here
Today.