night sky over Mojave Desert

AMAZING PRIME: The gifts delivered by nature

The last time we interacted was when I touched you. I was on a walk, and you were swaying in the late summer evening breeze, beside the sidewalk. You drifted away from me, like a shy lover on a first date’s kiss, leaving my fingers suspended in the empty space where you were a few seconds ago. I hoped you’d come back to me, but instead, you ‘returned’ just below my hands, after kissing several of your neighbours.

And then there was your smell. I put my nose next to your petals and felt like I was uplifted to another universe. I can’t find words to describe it, and maybe there shouldn’t be any. It’s a visceral feeling, like holding your newborn in your hands for the first time. There are no words—just a commotion of emotions.

Your colours, my dreams


AMAZING PRIME – The gifts delivered by nature

And of course, there were your colours; you were a lighter-hued pink towards the centre—almost whitish-pink—and gradually darkened towards your edges. Tiny lines ran all across the breadth of your being. Other flowers, like the Mozart rosemary, have purple lines called nectar guides that direct bees to the nectar, but I don’t know what your lines do. It doesn’t matter, really. They’re wondrous, either way.

I couldn’t help but pluck you up and place you in my palm. I closed my eyes and moved my fingers across your body, back and forth. I realized that we have so much in common: Your nectar lines, my veins. Your colours, my dreams. You swaying to the breeze around you, me swaying to the winds of my life. Your impermanence and return to the ground, my eventual return to wherever I may end up. Your rebirth next spring, my rebirth someday in some form. You are me; I am you.

And then there are the gifts you leave at the doorstep of my body and mind: amazement and curiosity. I like to call it Amazing Prime. It’s much better than Amazon Prime, which is next-day delivery; amazement and curiosity both are same-instant delivery. As soon as wonder knocks on the door of my mind, I open it, and you both just walk in and make yourself at home inside me.

The firefly guides me


AMAZING PRIME – The gifts delivered by nature1

I’ve interacted with you several times—that quiet night when I looked up at the Milky Way in the Mojave Desert, that morning when I saw an elk walking through an alpine lake in the Rockies, that afternoon when I enjoyed cherry blossoms swaying like crazy in the wayward spring breeze—and I’m glad you’re not shy introverts who don’t want to visit others’ homes.

When I sometimes find myself lost in the dark in the forest of sorrow, you are the firefly whose flashing lights guide me like a faithful lover.

I may forget about you for weeks or months, but then I realize that I really need you. When I sometimes find myself lost in the dark in the forest of sorrow, you are the firefly whose flashing lights guide me like a faithful lover, back to the trailhead.

When I’m not feeling motivated or am just plain bored, I retrieve the memories of our times together and snuggle next to you, our hands intertwined. I do that because I know that those memories rejuvenate my mind and body, because the simple act of being with you reminds me that I’m doing justice to my life.

I want to be beside you every moment of my life, no matter who leaves you at my doorstep—the hummingbird dancing over the water sprinkler; maple leaves drifting to the ground in the cool autumn wind; feeling the faithful beating of my heart when I place my hand over it; watching, on hardwood floors, the shadows of leaves dancing in the breeze.

When I look at the stars


AMAZING PRIME – The gifts delivered by nature2

And then, there’s the fun aspect too. When I looked at the stars in the Mojave wilderness, humility, awe, gratitude and curiosity all celebrated a long-overdue reunion inside me. How did I know that? They were having such a good time that the hairs on my arms were tingling.

I know that there’s a metamorphosis that occurs when we meet: you transform from emotions into something intangible that settles into my being, something that’s beyond words, something that’s vital to human life. You melt into me and become a part of me, a part that nourishes and supports me in ways that I can’t appreciate enough.

So, thank you, dear rose petal basking in the fading warmth of a late summer evening, for allowing me to fall in love with you (as if I had a choice). And also, thank you, Amazing Prime.

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image 1 Ulrike Leone from Pixabay 2 Photo by toan phan on Unsplash 3 Photo by Will Truettner on Unsplash

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