Happy Sunday!

Ralph Waldo Emerson. 1803–1882

The Rhodora

On Being Asked Whence Is the Flower

IN May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,

I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,

Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,

To please the desert and the sluggish brook.

The purple petals, fallen in the pool,
       

Made the black water with their beauty gay;

Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,

And court the flower that cheapens his array.

Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why

This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,

Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,

Then Beauty is its own excuse for being:

Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!

I never thought to ask, I never knew:

But, in my simple ignorance, suppose

The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.

I could not have said it better myself! 🙂 And there is even a Sunday thought in there. I have been photographing Rhodora every spring for years and this is the first time I have come across this poem.

The Rhodora, just a few scattered plants, was in bloom along the edge of a little marshy pond near my home in Kennebunk. If we ever get another sunny day (which is in some doubt in southern Maine this year) I want to go to Saco Heath, about 15 miles from here where it blooms in mass.

For now, these few will do! As I am sure Ralph Waldo would agree.

Nikon Coolpix P500 1) 32mm (Close Up mode for macro), f5 @ 1/1000th @ ISO 160, 2) 32mm (Close Up mode for Macro) f5 @ 1/800th @ ISO 160.

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.