The Buddha Revealed

Buddha sits in my garden,
overlooking the flowering plants
in the shade of the lilac bush and
the towering fig tree

He's been there for a few years,
quietly, patiently serving as witness
to the birth and death of
these plants and their seasons

About two weeks ago
a snow storm blanketed our town
and covered the garden

Amid the leafless plants covered in snow,
with only his head visible,
sat the Buddha

Every morning after the storm
I would raise the blinds and
look out over the garden

For two weeks, the Buddha sat
with only his head above the snow bank,
and still he sat

Can I say this was a lesson for me?
I appreciate this is a stone Buddha.
What else would he do but sit for
as long as it took the snow to melt?

But for me it was the connection to him
as he waited to emerge in the still quiet 
of the plants around him

I recall a quote by Anonymous I came across
a while ago.
"The devil whispers, you can't withstand the storm.
The warrior replies, I am the storm."

Sometimes lessons can be quiet ones.
Quiet but fierce.

Stillness in the storm.
Patience in the aftermath.
Strength in simply being.