Magnificent Magnolia Flower

Vince Ferguson – Iced Magnolia Buds – Digital Image

Vince Ferguson – Magnolia – Digital Image

Vince Ferguson – Magnolia Blossoms – Digital Image

Here’s a nice little poem to celebrate this year’s opening of the magnificent Magnolia Tree. The first image in this posts is an image of a couple Magnolia Buds, nearly ready to blossom, but restrained from doing so because of ice, during a cold spell. I like the progression of these images from iced over flower buds to full flowering plant. To help celebrate the opening, here’s a cool little poem written by Hyesim…

Magnolia, the Lotus of Trees

Observing leaves: at first, I doubt they are persimmon—
looking at the blossoms, I doubt they are lotus.
How fortunate there are no fixed forms—
this tree has no comparison.

~Chin’gak Kuksa Hyesim (1178 – 1234) was the second Patriarch of the Korean Buddhist Chogye Order and the first Zen Master dedicated to poetry in Korea. This poem can be found translated in the book, Magnolia & Lotus: Selected Poems of Hyesim (Korean Voices Series)