Fleeting beauty of space
flores
flor, 花 (huā), 花 (hana), 꽃 (kkot), bunga , මල (mal) ,ورد (warada), flower
It all began with family, we saw, felt, breathed, gifted, grew, touched our first flowers with our parents, siblings, friends;
in an offering to the Buddhist shrines from our gardens,
or from a young mother leaning at temple street who broke dawn combing cold lotus waters to feed her children..
In birth, life, passing – flowers, Hanakotoba (花言葉) – language of flowers, combining “flower” (花) and “word or language” (言葉), hold space for our soul – refreshing, healing for the living and departed
Family trips, school excursions at botanic gardens, mothers choring men and children to water her blossoming plants
A film camera catching mum next to those colourful pink petals – wondering who is softer
And your lover picture us both under warm tropical sun with first blooms of new home
The first flower we are attracted to; first flower bath of child; first flower of edible green; first flower we gift someone is special –
as speccial as first kiss and first lover (or last), and first sun rise seen with our significant other
“When you say goodbye to a man, teach him the name of a flower. Flowers bloom every year without a fail”!
~ Yasunari Kawabata | quoted by Hiro Arikawa
So, everytime you see, touch, breath those flowers, (or greens), they will make you feel the way you felt that time. “Saudade” (The Brazilian Portuguese word for ardent missing of someone, some place, something, emotion), the nostalgia, the longing of fleeting moments, semblance to the fleeting beauty of flowers, that are forever home to one’s own heart and life – speaks to “mono no aware” 物の哀れ a sensitivity to the transient nature of things…
