(EN/KR)
Dinosaur
Alien
Cemetery
Flower
Programing
Light
Pattern
Ghost
Universe
Paradise
Dogma
Purgatory
Glitch
Undoubtedly, flowers have already been extensively analyzed, romanticized, and poetically depicted by botanists, writers, and artists. Even so, I want to write down my own thoughts about flowers. Perhaps, as with other subjects I have reflected on, what I am about to say has long been recorded in textbooks—outdated, obvious truths that have been discussed for centuries.
And yet, I have felt it firsthand. While cycling for several kilometers, I saw flowers neatly planted along the roadside—the same ones I had seen there last year. Despite the humid heat exceeding 30 degrees, the scent of the Han River mixed with the cool air trapped within the surrounding greenery, brushing past me as I rode by. Those flowers had surely been planted and maintained by someone. Given their location along the Han River bike path, they were likely not the result of personal effort but rather maintained with public funds, sustained by taxes... In that case, perhaps I, too, have a small stake in this flowerbed. So, I might as well enjoy it a little more freely.
Flowers hold many meanings. Think about it—when did we start giving flowers to those we love, using them as a symbol of celebration, and assigning them meanings? Imagine a person in ancient times contemplating how to express attraction to someone they admired. After much thought, he/she might have looked at the flowers spread across a field and exclaimed, “Ah! This is it!” Carefully gathering them one by one, he/she would have created the first bouquet. And surely, it must have been successful. The act of expressing love with a bouquet of flowers must have quickly gained popularity, leading many others to adopt the practice of confirming love through flowers. This is merely a story I imagined, yet the tradition of giving flower bouquets has endured from ancient times to the present, proving its deep and lasting significance.
The act of planting flowers, nurturing them, and harvesting them, or seeking out wildflowers, picking them one by one, and gathering them into a bouquet—all of these are enough to represent sincerity. One might even question, Is expressing sincerity truly such a laborious task...?
I touched a flower bud—so fragile,
yet brimming with life.
Plump, full,
moist, firm,
and still—snap, break.