From Glory to Death

Sonu Yadav

Regular neighbourhood walks became a norm after the lockdown announcement in Sydney. Stuck inside a tiny studio apartment with no front and backyard, I look forward to the walks – something like a highlight of the day.

Though I am restricted to a 5km radius, I realised there is so much to explore. I began to notice flowers and trees around me, and started searching their scientific names and life-history traits.

One particular tree that caught my attention was the short sized magnificent magnolia, standing at the corner of the street. I somehow overlooked its presence before lockdown, when I walked the same way every day to work, perhaps because it was not flowering at that time. But one is unlikely to ignore its beauty when it is flowering. I was stunned by the prettiness of its pink flowers. The pink glow - absorbing and reflecting sun rays, attracting honeybees to collect the nectar and spread its pollens.

Every day more and more petals unfolded into an attractive delicate flower. And eventually, the whole tree was loaded with flowers, only flowers, no leaves. “A pink tree!” I walked every day to see the tree and watched the change in real-time. The pink radiating flowers turned from rose pink to dark pink, red, brown and finally left their beloved tree to degrade in the ground and supply nutrients back to the tree, the insects and the worms.

I watched these events and said to myself – “there it is, the cycle of life – from glory to death!”