The title of the new book of poetry by the award-winning author, musician and poet, Ann Purcell, Tender Flower of Heaven, captures its essence to a point of perfection.
The 130 deeply spiritual poems in this book reflect the author’s keen sense of the heavenly in the everyday — and seemingly fleeting — moments of existence like the blooming and withering of a delicate flower.
By means of the 130 poems presented in the book Purcell passionately expresses her way of experiencing the world. Her inspiration comes from sensing the underlying connection of everything to a common indestructible core of essence. 
The experiences which Purcell captures in poetry in Tender Flower of Heaven, stem from her extensive practice of Transcendental Meditation. Purcell has practiced Transcendental Meditation daily since 1972 and has been a meditation teacher herself for over 40 years. Meditation led Purcell to express her deepened sense of life in poetry, writing and music.
Some of Purcell’s spiritual poems in this book explore the transcendental experience from different angles as she has encountered it. In others she takes a plunge into the depths of a given moment – whether it’s standing and looking at mountains, or walking into a garden to check up on a special flower – peeling off layers of the experience to glimpse at its ultimate depths.
In Tender Flower of Heaven Purcell also explores the results and roots of her transformation into an artist who paints with words and sounds.
To get a glimpse of the Purcell’s work, which lovers of transcendentalism will surely enjoy, here’s the author’s poem on her first experience of meditating, which fittingly also became the title of the collection.
Tender Flower of Heaven
The first moment I met you
my stillness
I experienced a certainty
a fullness
that I never knew before;
a peaceful rest
in softness of my Self
that compressed
life’s purpose into this moment
and impressed
on me life’s true meaning.
I was blessed
with the purest love that exists
and repossessed
a confidence of knowing
knowingness
that now cushions my life
in sweetness
allowing me to move free
unoppressed
in the calm of my Being.
I confess
I want to sing aloud
and address
all to experience their silence
and repossess
the beauty of life, of living
the gentleness
of the tender flower of Heaven.
MORE FROM THE SAME AUTHOR:
Here you can find reviews of two previous books by Ann Purcell, The Transcendental Meditation Technique and the Journey of Enlightenment and Let Your Soul Sing.
