Tuesday, June 05, 2007


For those with an interest in flowers, and flowers that bloom on cactii in particular, I believe this is a flower that blooms on a spiny thing by the name of ::

Acanthocalycium spinoflorum.

But then , like all things in life that really isnt what this is all about. This is about transience. This beautiful flower blooms on the cactus for a day. It comes into its own in the morning and by the evening its gone. I have never really seen it being pollinated by any insect so i really dont know anything about it. WHat matters is the fact that it is beautiful, and how and then for a short time. And is gone in the blink of an eye. Something that the japanese talked so much about in their death poetry with the sakura or the cherry blossom as the main motif. Here is an example:


Senryu, died June 2, 1827

Like dew drops

on a lotus leaf

I vanish.

(Senryu, died June 2, 1827)

This flower bloomed on a cactus that was planted in my garden many years ago. And as I woke up on the 3rd of june, my father told me that there was a flower blooming outside and maybe i would like to have a look. I saw it and as i had my camera with me, i took some pictures of it to record some of that transience, and as I bent down close i smelt it and looked at it closely for the first time. There were so many memories attached and all of them came back. And again there is this is familiar sense of despair, that there is a certain meaninglessness to everything. A sense of waste. Its easy to be religious, and it gives so much comfort from this feeling but that is not for those who reject this notion of god. I am still looking for answers and living on as I do.

1 comment:

illusions said...

The flowers will never die

Strangely it is the very flower that once I glimpsed,
Even before the seed was sown, it started its cycles of rebirth,
An unexpected and unexplored prospect,
A view obscure with distance in very truth,
Nature is the key that unlocks the secrets of the soul
The possibility of grand unification of the three forces
Which essences are gently restorers, heals and destroys
Going in circles, Wheels of Life
The soul of Nature, unexpressed within that Nature
That nourishes and fortifies the infinite diversity
Expressed in all life forms, located in the heart’s chamber.
An organizing power inherent in Nature
Innate in every seed, which harmonies of fire, water, earth, and air.
The soul cannot be understood by intelligence or knowledge
It is to be attained only by the love you feel
To such a one the soul reveals its own self.
And the flowers will never ever die
And the flowers will never die

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