This May: peonies, iris, cicadas. And me.
Next May the peonies and iris will blossom again. After this season’s flowers are gone, leaves will turn sunlight into energy to be stored by roots for next season. Some of the peonies I see now might go on blooming every year for decades.
These cicadas will be gone in a few weeks. But the urgent clamor and frenzied mating in the trees begin a new cycle. Young cicadas will tap tree roots for sustenance and live through multiple versions of themselves underground before they emerge in turn 17 years from now.
Will I be here to see the next adults of Brood X appear? Or, for that matter, will I be here a year from now, when iris and peonies bloom again? What new versions of myself might I grow into, given time? I contemplate futures, tracing paths through a cloud of possibilities. My body is preparing a future I can’t see.
All I know for sure is this: I am here this May.
This is so lovely. Such a beautiful, gentle examination of life’s rhythms and life’s uncertainties… simply and masterfully written. Thank you for sharing this shining little gem.
Thank you! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!