Life Beyond the Petals' Violet Hues Cannot Be Ignored

View from Inside the Orchid

A World Within Shows the Way

To Worlds Beyond

It’s well-lit inside the orchid. I have an extraordinary view from where I’m perched deep inside this bloom, the petals just beginning to to unfurl, to show me more of the outside world from where I sit. Below me and on both sides of me are cream-colored layers. Green hues move from the palest hint to brighter and brighter, and then they morph into the regal violet petals that are ready to embrace the outside world. I am comfortable, warm, serene.

I gaze up at the greens and violets and feel my psyche tugged toward those outer petals, but for now, I’m content to sit in the creamy inner world of this orchid, where the down-cushioned bloom wraps around me. Ah, but the greens draw my eyes to them, and from there, my eyes continue to travel farther away from this plush center. The regal violet petals strike my senses awake, firing them with energy, with life. I know, because I have viewed these petals from the outside, that when held to the light, they shimmer like gems or Rapunzel’s straw once spun into gold. If I leave this world deep within and move closer to those gems, I’ll catch their sparkle on my skin and I, too, will shimmer.

Oh, I yearn to meander up and out of this orchid and onto those petals. The light that beckons me is different above the violet petals. This interior world has its own rich creams and emerald greens, but as I gaze up and out, the light beyond the violet petals is not finite. It isn’t enclosed within the body of this precious bloom. That light moves and spreads and hints of the promise of more worlds, rather than the singular world I now experience within the orchid—lovely as it is.

 This orchid bloom’s inner world is delicate, yet finite in its enclosure. I’m aware of the bloom’s capacity for continued life because flecks of pollen dust my hair, but the life within this bloom also is limited—finite—as is the light.

Fragility of the petals and the blossom’s delicate construction mean a journey up and out of this world must be done with care. Comforting and serene as it is within this world, the light and worlds above these violet hues cannot, will not, be ignored. The life beyond this creamy comfort calls.