Risk
by Elizabeth Appell
And then the day came,
when the risk
to remain tight
in a bud
was more painful
than the risk
it took
to blossom.
This short poem is usually attributed to Anaïs Nin, and I was going to do that myself. But it did not seem right to me--I had my doubts (perhaps because I wrote today's prompt that includes a bit about misapprobriated quotations?). It just didn't sound like Nin.
So I quickly searched and thanks to poet Joseph Fasano, I learned the actual person who wrote this. So many thanks to him! Here is the link to his comment: X. This led me to Google Risk by Elizabeth Appell and see that there are many folks writing about this specific quotation and noting that Nin did write about risk and courage . . . but this is not her quotation. So let's get the word out and give Appell the credit she is due!
Although this is such a short poem, it manages to be a common (and one of my favorite) literary devices. This poem is a conceit, which is just a word in poetry that means extended metaphor. Here, the entire poem describes a flower finally blooming.
But it is easy to see that this is actually not just a piece about a flower blooming, but a piece for any person who finally became their authentic self, or inspiration for those who are considering it.
It is also easy to see how this short bit of beauty can be motivation for so many people considering a change in their life, be it asking for a raise at work to getting a divorce to going forward with transitioning.
"Stand up for yourself" would be a succinct way of putting it, but Appell provides a beautiful image, connecting all humans to all of nature (as we, of course, are).
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