When I stare into a peony, I imagine myself small enough to crawl amongst the petals. I climb into the middle, pushing and pulling silky pink petals higher than my head. I bounce up and down to make the flower sway. I run and slide through secret paths of changing colour, shaking my head to let the pollen fall from my hair. I breathe in scent, letting living flower energy vibrate through me, my own human smell mixing with damp plant smell. I curl my body into a comfy spot for a nap, here, in the very center. Petals hold me close. Wind sways the stem but the sepals are strong. I am safe. The light glows pink and red, sunshine filtered through ragged petal edges. This is a time for sleeping, for dreaming, for praying. As my body relaxes, feelings seep from deep inside me. Nestled amongst the petals, I am not afraid. On a rainy day in June, when the peonies have opened to their fullest, I hide myself inside a flower.
17 comments:
This is wonderful. Peonies are just gorgeous, and you provided me with another reason for thinking so.
Oh. I love love love the smell of peonies. I wanted to sniff my monitor. What a gorgeous picture and (as usual) beautifully sensual post.
SuperB
Beautiful. I love peonies. My parents had a huge peony garden in our backyard when I was a kid. I loved cutting them and bring them inside, too.
About crawling into them, though: does that make you an ant?
Beautiful. I love your photos.
Then you must be an ant, because my peonies are chock full o' ants.
Ooooh, Mrs. Coulter, jinx!
Peonies are my very favorite. I love the scent of the paler ones, and the deep color of this one.
Thanks for posting this.
Every time you post a picture, my first thought is how beautiful the picture is, and then my second is, what kind of camera do you have? I need a digital camera, and I know yours will take good pictures.
Impersonator: It's a pretty simple camera -- a Kodak EasyShare CX7330.
Mrs. Coulter and Sandra: Watching ants crawl around in the petals is what makes me always think it would be cool to shrink down and do the same. I took three shots and the other two had ants in them.
What a great photo! Peonies are my birthday flower (they bloom a month earlier where I'm from). We had peopnies when I was little, and I wasn't allowed to pick or cut any except on my birthday. As an adult, I still try to have a bouquet of them every year. And even though I am terribly allergic to all sorts of pollen, I can't help but bury my face in a bunch of them to inhale their scent and feel their softness.
The peony is my favorite flower and that is one beautiful photo.
I should probobly get a peony for my new garden this year.
Fantastic.
Ahhhhhh . . . . Wonderful! :-)
I liked it so much I emailed the link to a number of friends! :-D
Ooh, the peonies at the Missouri Botanical Garden were gorgeous the last time I was there, just after a rain. Lessee, where did I put the photo page with them? Oh, here it is. I especially liked the dark pink ones with the white centers.
I have a red one and a white one that I transplanted from my neighbor's house (with her permission) when she was moving. The red one is doing wonderfully, but I planted the white one where some unstoppable day lilies crowd it and also the year after I transplanted it, Hubs got it with the weed-whacker before it could even bloom. Took it off right at ground level, the so-n-so... but it keeps trying, sends up one lone stalk and blooms every year.
You're dreaming of being an ant! My mom grew the most beautiful peonies and the little ants couldn't keep their mitts off those gorgeous flowers. I used to sit for hours and watch them explore the insides of the flowers that looked so much like that in your photo.
What a beautiful shot! Such glorious color! I have to enjoy your pictures of nature, since I am one of the Tribe With Black Thumbs, or my native name: She Who Kills All Plant Life.
So, instead, I get to enjoy YOUR pictures, and get my nature fix THAT way!
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