The foliage is so small and delicate here. Accustomed to the robust greens of home adorned with large leaves and thick strong flowers, it took me some time to see the wonder overflowing from every minascule detail. But now my eyes are aglow with admiration, my heart alive as I breathe it all in!
Lime green leaves creep out of a winter’s hiding: still so simple-celled that just the faintest beam of early sun shines right through their translucent existence. The leaves need help from the roots, that have hibernated below the earth’s surface for months, and they are happy to provide. Knowing fully well that there are many thousands of little leaf neighbours needing nourishment, each one takes just what it needs: enough and no more. With compassion for eachother, each leaf grows just robust enough to survive the long summer days interwoven with rains, winds and storms that are never very far from this land. Once thriving it is the leaf’s turn to resupply the root’s pantry, working almost 20 hour days gladly. Rather than growing big and strong on their own, the leaves (and flowers and berries too!) grow strong together by staying small to ensure enough for all.
The leaves look slightly different every day. Some are pixie-like with pinched in edges. Others form slender stripes of green bowing low under the weight of a few tiny raindrops. Some are broad flat leaves that remain close to the ground – perhaps less stem to nourish as well as a shorter journey for nutrients to travel grants these a slightly larger surface area. And then there are the darker green tea-cup shaped leaves that lean toward each other above our heads, kissing their neighbours across the way at the apex of a beautifully simple forest arch.
And the flowers! They take my breath away! Chandeliers of pale pink twinkle above blue-green stems, casting a warm haze when the sun hits. A wonderful wobble dance comes after just the slightest breeze. White fluffy disco balls pop up in groups between the pinks, and every now and then a miniature descendent of the sun rises in strong yellow supported by a robust stem. There are so many different versions of this colour pallate trifector everywhere I look. Deep pink-purple spheres donned with spikes lie lower than buttery baby yellow clouds hovering in clusters above them – almost neon but not quite. Dainty white snow flakes are scattered with perfect absent minded precision, and thus another pink – white – yellow composition is complete.
It’s magical to see the magic in these small beings. Cruising down a sealed road, or fumbling over thick roots, or standing up in the pedals in an attempt to keep some forward momentum on winding single track hills… they see it all! Lining our path with a beauty, a patience, a smile that feels unique to these small delicate plants. They smile in their tiny moment of glory: sprouting leaves, flowers and even berries after a winter 70 degrees colder than today! A brief summer “we-made-it” smile that stays with the sun and will leave shortly after he does. A smile smiled knowing its end is near before it had even started, but smiling anyway! Smiling in the transience…the anicca of life!
A beautiful little life.
