And the day came when the risk [it took] to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
--Anais Nin.

We all come of age, at every age, when risk confronts us. Flowers enact the drama before our eyes as their buds burst at spring's call. Packed in and secure, the petals increasingly resist repression. Finally, they break free and exult in lives that last a few days, or maybe just a few hours. Life is finite for a flower--and aren't we all flowers? Our petals our skin? Our souls our seed?