Describe symbolism in Saint Francis and the Sow by Galway Kinnell

Lines 3-4, explore the meaning of "all things," and help explain the symbolic power of the bud. A bud contains within itself all that is needed for full flowering. It is pure potential, a flower fully present, but yet-to-be revealed. Some things, for whatever reason, do not ultimately flower, at least visibly. The bud "stands" for those things too, says the poem, because a certain kind of flowering still occurs"from within." And the agent of such inner unfolding is "self-blessing." If "bud" is the kernel of all nouns in this poem, "blessing" is the essential verb. The capacity to flower, whether without, or from within (an ability "everything" has) is a matter of being blessed.