The Flowering

Spectacular, isn't it?

This is not just a flower.

And it is far more than a metaphor.

A trillion organelles inside a billion cells

doing their own thing,

which happen to play their role

in a coherent and beautiful whole.

The flower begins as one,

a cell divided off the stem.

It looks the same, but carries something new.

For now, the flower is unseen. What flower?

But a grand procession begins.

Through storm and drought it builds and buds,

the thankless work of a trillion things,

hour in, hour out, doing their bidding,

mining minerals, making nutrients,

picking orders and packing product,

shipping packages, building networks,

forming structures in castes of workers,

Unquestioning.

What if they got a bit sidetracked and made a little drone,

to capture a sneaky peak at the aerial view?

What they don't know!

Once open - the spectacular climax -

the flower only sustains itself long enough to pollinate,

to fruit and make a seed

for a new plant, new stem, new flower - new seed.

So the flower disintegrates.

Job done.

But nothing really dies or goes away.

It all just stays here and has another go.

Minerals only become nutrients by ingestion,

fueled by sugar, lubed with water,

compelled and conducted by

what again?

"...imagination, the real and eternal world of which this Vegetable Universe is but a faint shadow..."

-William Blake