the sun was slowly drifting to the horizon when i saw these fading lilies against the background of their flourishing brothers and sisters and i wondered if my age predisposes me to see them as perhaps more beautiful in the gentle convolutions and softened tones of their aging bodies than their
more colourful and well-formed siblings.
20 comments:
The colors are nearly indecent, they are that splendid.
I agree, Steven, as I age I like the falling and fading flowers even more than the just opened ones. I left a spent orchid bloom on a branch for months; I couldn't bear to lose sight of it.
Interesting. Fading is a part of living.
They are beautiful! And so are your words, and so is your outlook, Steven. Thank you.
I often find the beauty in faded blooms. A photographer friend of mine did a series of photos of gone by dried up tulips that were just beautiful.
There is beauty in decay too, not all death is ugly.
one thing that is inevitable, fading. no matter how beautiful there will always be a rest/end for everything.
JJRod'z
Your flowers look like the Daylilies I have in my garden, which reminds me of a story I heard about a man who complained to the nursery that the flowers on the lilies he had planted only lived for one day!
Daylilies remind me of my Grandma...and they're such a staple of southern backyards!
Nice.
terresa there's a subtlety to aged colour that i like - a lot! steven
ruth - i keep the fallen flowers for the tones and shades that they hold that i couldn't see when they were flowering. i'm not surprised that you have a similar affection. steven
aguja - yes! fading with a different sort of beauty. steven
reya - thankyou. i think that i am seeing differently - ever so slightly. steven
ellen - there's something in the fading of flowers that paralells my experiencing of people in my age group and older. "fading" is synonymous with weakening, or losing value. i see it as gaining in presence. steven
friko - i agree. there are subtleties to the presence of something or someone that is not in its or their "outwardly beautiful" phase that appeals to me. steven
yeah jj there's an inevitability to it for sure. i also think that there's a corollary which is that the fading can be a beauty of its own. steven
valerie these are lilies although their lifespan is a little bit longer than a day. they close up at night and open again to welcome the sun. the term of their flowering life seems to be a week or two and then they either fall off or i hasten their return to the earth! steven
hope - i have them for their vivid orange and softened reds. they are low maintenance (also a plus in the poorly kept golden fish world headquarters gardens!), and they are bountiful. steven
Oh Steven- that is my favorite kind of flower- curled so beautifully and aged so delicately! LOVE the photo of that lovely old lady- and her colour is splendid!
love the texture of the older blooms. new ones can seem too plasticky-fake they're so perfect. wonderful post. touch the realness.
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