Solitude - Missoula, Montana

“I remember my grandfather telling me how each of us must live with a full measure of loneliness that is inescapable, and we must not destroy ourselves with our passion to escape the aloneness.”
— Jim Harrison (1937-2016)

Peony 3, Full Bloom - Missoula, Montana

"...and all day

under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,

the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise,
...stems holding

all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again—
beauty the brave, the exemplary,

blazing open.
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?..."

-from Peonies by Mary Oliver (b.1935)

Peony 2 - Missoula, Montana

"...they open—

pools of lace,

white and pink—

and all day the black ants climb over them,

boring their deep and mysterious holes
into the curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away

to their dark, underground cities..."

-from Peonies by Mary Oliver (b.1935)

Peony 1 - Missoula, Montana

"This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers..."

- from Peonies by Mary Oliver (b.1935)

Bloom to the Sky, Missoula, Montana

During the Montana winter, there's the challenging Race to the Sky.
In the spring, you can observe the somewhat less daunting 'bloom to the sky', right in your own backyard.
Peonies inspire me to live with generosity, eyes and arms wide open, hands high to the sky, reaching to invite the sunshine - or weathersome clouds, or come what may - to be, fully present.
Here are the last of these blowsy blossoms for this year - at least from me; you can always amble about your neighborhood to spy some more.