A week ago, I got a bouquet of orange tulips from a flower stall in a street market in Paris. The flowers were so lovely that for several minutes that afternoon, after I arranged them in a vase, they were my favorite photography subjects, with pictures taken from different angles. 🙂

After a few days, the petals did not look as fresh. I changed the water in the vase in the hope of revitalizing the flowers. It appeared to be effective for a time.

However, the inevitable happened. Five days passed and some flowers started to wither. Some tulips were still intact, but the rest looked like they were a different variety of flowers in a mystical forest. Then after a week, I woke up to the sad scene of petals at the base of the vase on the hearth.

This might be an ordinary and expected thing that happens. After all, when I buy fresh flowers to enliven my place, it is usual that they last for a few days showing the glory of their beauty and magnificent colors, but after a week, they had to be replaced. However, being in a reflective mood this month, I connected the photos to the concepts of beauty and mortality.

The fading of beauty is a subject of not a few quotes, with the emphasis of not being attached to physical or outer beauty. But it is undeniable that beauty is necessary in the world. How often do we look around and marvel at the beauty we see? Do we still find time to appreciate the elegant arc of the rainbow, the array of intricately-decorated pastries in the boulangerie, the vibrant flowers in a flower shop, the enchantingly whirled crimson red rose petals, and the gorgeous sheen and shimmer of tulip petals? Relating this to our lives, do we still see the beauty of each day? Or do the days just pass by like a blur?

Yes, beauty fades; it dies even. But its presence in the world, even briefly, is sufficient to fulfill its purpose to give joy, to make someone smile and to sprinkle fairy dust in the air. It is natural for the heart to feel sad when beauty fades or dies but there is a way to keep the wonderful feeling in one’s heart.

Some days, beauty is ever-present but in other days, it is so hard to seek. Still, look more closely and scan the vast horizon. There, you will most probably find it.