"Did you think I'd crumble?Did you think I'd lay down and die?
Oh, no, not I, I will survive
Oh, as long as I know how to love, I know I'll stay alive
I've got all my life to live, I've got all my love to give
And I'll survive, I will survive, I will survive."
It might as well be the theme song of this sunflower whose 8-inch blossom asserted itself in the garden this morning. This would be one of those sunflowers nibbled to a nub outside the old fence by rabbits or some such critters shortly after sprouting this spring. Indeed, it's not growing where I planted it. This is one of those mysterious growths that has emerged serendipitously in the midst of the potato rows -- transplanted, perhaps, by the same rabbits who devoured its siblings -- or the winds, or the floods, or the garden gods. Safely now inside the new fence, it has had the privilege of growing unassaulted.
As it turns out, it has homogeneous neighbors -- 3 or 4 other sunflowers of equal or taller proportion rising up amidst the potatoes, still holding their colors close to the stalk. But any day now they, too, will take their turn on the disco floor and assert to the rabbits and the deer and the birds and me that they, too, will survive -- indeed, have done so.
Blessedly so, thank you very much. You are beautiful, indeed.
1 comment:
Looks very much like a giant version of what Texans call an Indian Blanket. Remember? And, speaking of Texas flora, we are seeing more and more commercial sunflowers growing where cotton had long since ceased to be king. It's not Kansas or even Iowa, but look at all the sunflowers, y'all.
Jim Benton
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