Let It Be...A Moment in Nature

Late summer evening in the heart of Carolina. The pond is alive. Great egret works the shallows and green heron lurks in the willows just as the last rays of the setting sun yield to the shadows. Suddenly, radiant red sparks erupt from the bank like an unexploded pyrotechnic spontaneously igniting. But it's alive, this crimson geyser of reflected sunlight. This glorious denizen of the riparian zone bears the name cardinal flower.





It is a given name, just like the moniker borne by the belted kingfisher regaling us with its raucous rattle, and the   mottled gray Carolina mantis hunting nearby.

Nature. Alive. Boundless. Eternal. Named.

Observed, identified, catalogued, added to a list. Convenient.













Surrounded by the diverse but orderly array of previously discovered and named members of our ecological community, I wonder... Is something lost when a name is assigned, a label affixed, a species identified?

Is the immensity diminished as order is established? Does the awe and wonder recede as well?

Look! Hiding there! What is it ?! A spider. A tiny, furry predator lurking amidst the radiant waves of red. What species? Let's look it up on the internet!

Stop.

Deep breath.

It is a magnificent creature, and so are you. Creatures communing, sharing a moment or two of an indescribably vast and wonderful journey. Let it be nameless. Let it BE...