A Poem That Celebrates Diversity
The following poem, "The Flower Garden" is about the importance of appreciating individuality as opposed to uniformity in our families, at work, at school, in our communities and in our society on every level. It is diversity which makes our societies great not uniformity and sameness but our differences.
The Flower Garden
One day, as I was walking
I came across a garden...
long I stood there to gaze
every flower seemed perfect
and worthy of praise...
bold in color, refined in symmetry...
how difficult a task to select from these
the one that would the most please,
as somehow their beauty was uniform;
but I beheld one in particular,
a little flower
that first looked quite ordinary-
yet with fragile beauty
it somehow beguiled...
I stood there for quite a while.
As the sun's rays
gently fell down on its petals,
it stood out among all the rest
with a singularity...
a flower that many would have ignored-
for it might not have passed the critic's test
but nonetheless a beauty it did suggest;
and upon closer look
its glory would suddenly unfold,
with its petals
a soft palette of pastels,
to one who could behold...
Recommended
but to the impatient,
undiscerning eye-
it would have been dismissed,
and lack of perception
so confirming its imperfection;
unattended to would have wilted
or treated as a weed
for those more salient qualities
in their criteria which it could not meet...
and in a wasteland tossed
its virtue lie in vain,
a beauty never to be seen again
as it slowly dies...
its uniqueness forever lost.
-Lora Hollings
Every Child Is A Different Kind of Flower
Garden Party by Rick Nelson
This Song by Rick Nelson is about being yourself, "Can't please everyone so you got to please yourself."
Quote By Henry David Thoreau
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
-Henry David Thoreau
© 2019 Lora Hollings
