Hello and Goodbye to The Sunflowers

 

I've enjoyed the wild sunflowers more than ever this year.  Perhaps it is because of the pandemic.  I'm not going places and doing things other than riding my bike through the neighborhood.  It has been hard not to visit family and hug grandchildren, in particuplar, but this is a temporary thing and I've decided fretting isn't worth the energy.  Instead, I've resolved to enjoy everyday small moments and see the beauty around me everywhere. The sunflowers, and other wild weed/flowers particularly have brightened my world.

The other day, riding along on my bike, I saw this tall sunflower plant standing proud and brilliant in the sun.  A family had stopped to look at it and the mother had picked a couple of the flowers and handed them to her small son.  I thought it might have been better to just admire them and talk about how they grow in the worst soil with not much keeping them down.  Wildflowers never last if they're cut and brought inside.  Anyway, two days later that beautiful plant was mowed down, along with others growing nearby.

The area where the sunflowers were growing looked like a war zone where someone had ran over the area with a mower.  It looked far worse than if they'd just left the weeds and flowers growing.  Seriously, the weeds with the purple tops and the sunflowers were quite pretty. Why would anyone consider these plants a problem when they were just growing along side the road in gravel?  Did they think they were a fire hazard?  They grew near alfalfa fields with no homes close.  I was very sad to see the sunflowers ruined while yet it their glory.  The purple weeds were gone too.

Perhaps we could appreciate the gifts nature gives us even in the form of weeds.  Just because we didn't plant and tend something doesn't mean it is worthless.  Sure, some weeds are noxious and prevent cultivated things from growing but can't we leave the ones that aren't bothering anyone or creating a problem?

This is what I wrote to the sunflowers that were cut down (I know you'll think this silly but it did really affect me.):

Dear Sunflowers,

Why would anyone mow you down?  You were just handin' out hoping for sunlight and perhaps a little dew.  You brought light to a darkened world with your bright yellow that I enjoyed each day as I passed you by.

You grew in gravel, thin soil, and amongst debris but reached for the sky anyway though rain rarely came your way.  You grew in the worst of conditions and made the best of what you had by not just surviving but thriving with the little you were given. You lined the fences, the ditch banks, the side of the roads, and popped up in the middle of the fields bringing a marvelous display with freedom to reach for the sun in a joyful yellow dance. You decorated rock and garbage piles, somehow adding beauty to things considered abandoned and ugly. Your sunny faces bobbed in the wind.  Nothing much could take you down except what finally did. 

It truly was a shock when I saw your season of splender cut short and your lovely stalks flat on the ground and those pretty faces in the dirt.  You are gone.  Cut down in your prime and glory.  I'm so sorry, lovely sunflowers.  I mourn the loss of you, an important part of my present life. Your cheer is gone but I still feel warmth inside for what you gave.  I'm sorry that not everyone noticed your magnificent display.  

Thank you for your sunshine.

I loved you dearly.