It is autumn in Sunny South Africa and the first rains have fallen in the Western Cape region. This means that the autumn flowers are in full bloom. The climate in the Western Cape is hospitable to flowers year-round. That is, different species bloom at different times throughout the year, but the fynbos (fine bush) is always blooming. Yellows and autumn go hand in hand, but also purples and blues. In this post, I will share with you the wonderful flowers in my garden I took this morning with my macro lens. I will also intersperse the post with an ode or philosophical poem that celebrates the beauty of these flowers and their eventual demise in the form of seeds. I will also try to write all of the common and Latin names of the flowers for my own future references but also if you'd like to search for some of them!
An Ode to Autumn Flowers
purple watercolor paint
palette chaotic colors
drip from the artist's hands
in ribbon flowers
| Ribbon bush, Hypoestes aristata |
master at work
madness embodied
in the green backdrop
of the everyday
of the common
| Ribbon bush, Hypoestes aristata |
purple watercolor paint
a spectrum of danger
vicariously dressing
wearing the colors
luring the eyes of the predator
| Ribbon bush, Hypoestes aristata |
white purity
drips bruised purples
gaping sensitivity
luring the stinging
pollinating the future
with honey dripping
ever-enticing
| Hypoestes forskaolii |
as sudden
as the star's desolution
the lone flower announces
that there is no answer
but a cold indifference
but a warm embrace
an arrival of perspectival brilliance
| Hypoestes forskaolii |
hidden
shy
looking away
yet
seeking to be seen
looking to be relished
yearning to be smelt (smelled)
| Delicious Monster, Monstera deliciosa |
finally dancing in yellow
pollen covered skin
dreaded darkness
on the edge
always forever deferred
always forever a backdrop
for the yellow dance
| Cape honeysuckle, Tecoma capensis |
pollen covered skin
yellow happiness
sweet as honey
dripping from the lips
dripping from the tips
of the flower buds
sunny smiles and
tender petals of broken promises
| Golden Daisy Bush, Euryops pectinatus |
yet
a silver line
hinted purples
red finger tips
that covers the canvas
with a hope
that flashes every now and then
when everything seems
like there is no hope
| African daisies, Gazania |
finally dancing in yellow
embodies darkness
vicarious expression
through the petals
of a dying dream
hope transcends
the material being
and transforms into a yet-to-come
| African daisies, Gazania |
a purple moth
wings of death
wolly embraced
by the wave of calamity
calam
calm
in the eye of the storm
clarity trumps chaos
clearly the skies open
to let the tears drown
the seedling that awaits
the salted kisses
| September bush, Polygala myrtifolia |
but the sun always shines
when hope is on the horizon
yellow flames
and green pastures
succulent touches
tart smiles
| White-eyed Ice Plant, Delosperma basuticum |
embrace
the sun
embrace
the indifference
embrace
the silence of her face
when the night drowns
everything in cold shadow linen
| White-eyed Ice Plant, Delosperma basuticum |
a winter
snow-flaked-tips
cold fingers
freezing over the summer smiles
yet
her fingers too short
to take away the heat
stored in the ground
| Phylica ericoides |
and then
and now
the buttons of a future show
draped in the breath
of summer kisses
an icy smile
to bloom when the cold winter days
colide with a wet hand's embrace
| Jade plant, Crassula ovata |
and the eventual demise
into feathery seeds
that store the energy for a time
when no one looks
when no one knows
when no one understands
that the seedling yearns to be forgotten
| Seeds of the African daisy, Gazania |
and the eventual demise
into feathery seeds
swooped up by the wind
carried off to strange lands
to start the spiel all over again
| Seeds of the Common Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale |
dormancy
relies on the looking away
but the flower's face
lure eyes to look
lure mouths to taste
lure beaks to bite
dormancy
only in faraway lands
because the show must
go on in the lands of milk and honey
Post Scriptum
This was a rather long-winded ode or philosophical poem that does not make too much sense without the photographs. Or, the photographs inspired the words and kind of "forced" me to write them. Sometimes art is abstract and unexplainable. Plus, English is not my first language, and by no means my preferred language in which I write poetry. But it was a fun write. Hopefully, it makes some sense. Or, hopefully, it does the photographs justice.
Flowers are nature's canvas. It is always changing and making new paintings. I hope you enjoyed the photographs of my garden. It is wonderful to see the autumn flowers in full bloom. All of th photographs were taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron Zoom lens. The poem and philosophical meandering is my own creation. Stay safe, and happy photographing!
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Love the flower photos! I simply have to mention that because it's always the first thing my attention goes to. Flowers. And more flowers. Wonderful!
I've been listening to old jazz lately, again and too much I guess. If there's such a thing like too much, I don't know. I always come back to that after listening everything else. Other genres. (Well, not literally everything but almost.) And I couldn't help it but your poem, to me, in my head, sounded like a jazz tune. Jazzy song. It was so flowing. I could almost hear the notes! Returning to the same theme but still exploring new directions too. Playful. I actually don't know how to describe it better, than that it was like an old jazz tune to me. Melodic, joyful and flowing but also little sad.
Thank you so much. All credit to the stunning flowers, I only point and shoot with my camera.
Wow, that is an awesome reading of the poem! Thank you so much. I am going to put on some slow jazz today and read the poem again. Sometimes when I write I go into a trance-like mode and I cannot remember what I wrote. I have so many short stories on my PC that I wrote between 2012 and 2018 that I have no recollection of writing. Or, I know I wrote them, the content is just lost to me.
I am going to read the poem with some jazz now, thank you so much for the wonderful idea! I hope you are well, my friend.
I'm well thanks. :)