The Beauty of Aging
Last weekend, I spent a whole afternoon among roses. I was back at Camp Joy Gardens, a 40-year old garden where I apprenticed a couple years ago. Every time I'm there, whether for one day or one year, Camp Joy always teaches me something new.
This time, it was all about roses. More specifically, antique roses. Roses with delicious fragrances of citrus and spice. Roses with dizzying swirls of petals. Roses of fascinating hues - coppery orange, ruby red, apricot yellow, velvety crimson.
We meandered through the garden paths stopping by each rose, sampling its fragrance and delighting in its beauty. Looking up at the towering roses, some of which reached well over 20 feet into the air, I thought about how old these roses are and their seasoned beauty - the kind of beauty that is only possible with age and must be created by time.
“Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire.”
- Jorge Luis Borges
Most of us don't look forward to aging. We see it as slow decay and lost of youth, vitality, and stamina. We fill our days in busyness, hurrying from one moment to the next trying to squeeze it all in before we get too old. And then one day, we look back and wonder, where did all the time go?
"Be sweet and slow, life, like the honey and the bees, and you'll taste all the flowers that they brush with their knees."
- Ohara Hale
When I think of all the perennial flowers and fruit trees at Camp Joy Gardens, which bear the most beautiful blooms and the tastiest of fruits, I appreciate their age even more. There is so much beauty in maturity and I look forward with excitement to the day when my garden and orchards will be 40 years old; and I will be 80 years old. Of course, I won't be bearing beautiful blooms nor tasty fruits, but just maybe, with enough luck and enough patience, I could achieve some of that seasoned beauty I see in these roses.
"That must be what the great artists see and paint. That must be why the tired, aged faces in Rembrandt’s portraits give us such delight: they show us beauty not skin-deep but life-deep."
- Ursula K. Le Guin
“may my heart always be open to little
- E. E. Cummings
birds who are the secrets of living
whatever they sing is better than to know
and if men should not hear them men are old
may my mind stroll about hungry
and fearless and thirsty and supple
and even if it's sunday may i be wrong
for whenever men are right they are not young
and may myself do nothing usefully
and love yourself so more than truly
there's never been quite such a fool who could fail
pulling all the sky over him with one smile”
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I personally don't look forward for aging but your points of view make me have another thoughts. Thanks 😊
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I understand the feeling and glad that this post offered new thoughts. Aging is inevitable so accepting it rather than resisting will make our lives a bit happier and brighter too!
I adored this post, @sagescrub, so much so that I put it forward into the @c-squared curation community to help increase your audience. Something about old fragrant roses, Ursula LeGuin (whom I love), poetry, the fragrance of beauty and the lovely lyricism you have managed to capture. Just beautiful.
Would love to see you using the @ecotrain tag more tho. ;)
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Thank you so much for sharing this post! I did a bit of searching for good aging poems/quotes and there are surprisingly very little to be found that offer a positive outlook. Ursula Le Guin (also one of my favorite authors!) is one of the few that wrote so beautifully on the topic.
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Oh, how beautiful! We don't have anything like roses of this sort near us here in New England. I sure wish we did, after seeing your lovely photos.
But we do have Lilacland, with over 300 varieties. A friend of mine and I go each year. She's been away on a trip and I'm hoping she will be able to go when back as the lilacs are just starting now.
I just looked up Lilacland...wow!!! Gorgeous! I can just imagine the heavenly scents filling this beautiful place. I hope you will share photos from your trip!
Congratulations! I just stopped by to say that your post has been selected as a daily Featured Post of my personal curation project! You can find the daily Featured Post HERE.
I upvoted your contribution and I put it on the list because to my mind your post is what I call a quality content!
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Have a nice day and keep up the good work!
It is really beautiful!
A nice place to spend some quality time. Thank you for sharing this.