Fire Festival (August the 1st) Petunias!. . . Petunias are natives to South America and members of
the Solanaceae family. When I come upon these happy funnel-shaped flowers on a walk, I frequently
remember the wonderful little Basho haiku; it's brief , but 17 steps, yet somehow manages
to give us something close to the essence of poetry itself, like a clear crystal we can hold
in the hand, or put in our pocket and take along on a long journey:


The temple bell stops—
but the sound keeps coming
out of the flowers.

Basho (1644 - 94)
(tr. Robert Bly)


(Photograph was made Wednesday, the 30th of July, 2003)