An Ode to the Late Bloomers

Photo 52, Week 36:  Fresh Start

I love September.  In fact, I have been known to say September is my paycheck.

In my earlier days, September was the month I got lost in my work.

Now it is the month I emerge from my work.

There are so many things that get a fresh start in September,

but I typically get a fresh start on some of my own exploring.

Gotta bask in summer's last hurrah, you know.

So I went to the arboretum, and photographed these fish

(in honor of back to school, of course).

Along with a whole lot of late bloomers.

Here is my ode to them:

Dear Late Bloomers,

I am always enticed by the sweet beauty 

of your counterparts in early spring.

One has to admire their boldness, after all,

to appear sometimes even before the snow has gone

to announce the arrival of a new season.

But Late Bloomers,

how easily I forget that you wait patiently

for summer's dwindling days to stun us,

just when we thought all of the better things had passed.

You are like the finest wine at the wedding feast

when the empty vessels had already signified

that it was time for the guests to leave,

until Jesus came on the scene to announce

that the party, in fact, had only just begun.

Thank you, Late Bloomers,

for meeting me in the quiet of summer's end.

It is you who know me best.