A Prayer for the Flowers on the Altar

120 million years ago, the first flowering plants emerged, 
concentrating their life energy and memory into seed, 
making protein in the form of seed available for the mammals who were yet to come, 
and, in their flowering, bringing color and fragrance to Earth. 

They contained within them something that we’d later call beauty, 
many millions of years before anyone was around to grieve or fall in love,

For when human beings walked the earth, 
we began to spread these seeds for no reason other than the fact 
that their color and fragrance brought us comfort and joy. 
In times of despair, we brought them to one another as a reminder: 
There is still something beautiful in the world. 
We made altars of remembrance with them. 

Today, I thank the flowers for their beauty; 
I thank those who bring them to the altar, spreading their seeds, and not allowing us to forget. 
In this way, the flower, in joining us in our stories of grief and remembrance, 
helps to spread the seeds of our people, too, keeping their stories alive.