Magenta Cosmos (Flickr - click for more)
This morning, I walked through the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, where Our Stimulus Dollars have been At Work lining a new driveway with wildflowers. How beautiful! A few weeks ago, the black-eyed Susans had been in bloom, but this time there were lavender and magenta cosmos.
Black-Eyed Susans (ILoveMyCamera.com)
What always strikes me when I see a beautiful plant is how amazing it is that the plant can be alive, yet utterly unaware of itself. It might as well be a crystal.
Even if a magenta cosmos could see, it might not think itself beautiful. After all, its beauty is not meant to appeal to its own species, but to its pollinators, who are not even of the same biological kingdom. What would we look like if we had to attract plants instead of each other? What if our reproduction hinged on attracting fungi? Would we look and smell like rotten logs?
How lucky we are to be attracted to each other! How fortunate is the young man who can see his beloved! How blessed is the young woman whose beauty is admired!
Even to be able to love is to have won the cosmic lottery.
Young lovers, the universe has given you the rarest of gifts. May you savor every moment.
Path of the Beagle 