Like soldiers, they stand at attention, right arm up in a salute to the sun. The height of their beauty matches the zenith of the Sun King as he climbs toward the solstice, and as they begin to wane, so too does he. Or perhaps it is the other way around: As the Sun King begins his long and slow descent, the lupines follow suit and dash off ahead of him into the fading days. Whatever the case may be, they disappear from the countryside almost as soon as they arrive, and if you had not seen them with your own two eyes, you might not believe that they had ever been here.
But while they are
here, for the briefest of moments, let us enjoy the brilliant sentinels along
the road and sing praise to the Sun King while we still can. We do not know what tomorrow might bring, but
we know it will not be lupines.
