Thursday, August 4, 2011

gently fading




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:

* said...

The colors are nearly indecent, they are that splendid.

Ruth said...

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.

aguja said...

Interesting. Fading is a part of living.

Reya Mellicker said...

They are beautiful! And so are your words, and so is your outlook, Steven. Thank you.

ellen abbott said...

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.

Friko said...

There is beauty in decay too, not all death is ugly.

JJ Roa Rodriguez said...

one thing that is inevitable, fading. no matter how beautiful there will always be a rest/end for everything.

JJRod'z

Acornmoon said...

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!

hope said...

Daylilies remind me of my Grandma...and they're such a staple of southern backyards!

Nice.

steven said...

terresa there's a subtlety to aged colour that i like - a lot! steven

steven said...

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

steven said...

aguja - yes! fading with a different sort of beauty. steven

steven said...

reya - thankyou. i think that i am seeing differently - ever so slightly. steven

steven said...

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

steven said...

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

steven said...

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

steven said...

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

steven said...

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

Linda Sue said...

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!

NanU said...

love the texture of the older blooms. new ones can seem too plasticky-fake they're so perfect. wonderful post. touch the realness.