broader contexts

 thin
little
snippets


can be
suggestive


of much
broader
contexts.


—


In joy or sadness,
flowers are our constant friends.

We eat, drink, sing, dance and flirt with them.
We wed and christen with flowers.
We dare not die without them.

We have worshipped with the lily,
we have meditated with the lotus,
we have charged in battle array
with the rose and the chrysanthemum.

It frightens one to conceive
of a world bereft of their presence.

Their serene tenderness restores to us
our waning confidence in the universe
even as the intent gaze of a beautiful child
recalls our lost hopes...

Okakura Kakuzō,
The Book of Tea