I was walking along a wooden bridge. I stopped to toss a stone in the little stream below. As I watched the concentric circles being ripped apart by the current, I noticed a small patch of cardinal flowers. I watched them for some time as they swayed away in the light breeze. I decided to go down there. There was no good way to do it. I ended up going to the edge of the bridge and jumping off. My feet sunk into the wet mud and I dropped to my knees. My jeans quickly strained the water from the mud and my legs were soon soaked. My jeans surrounded by mud, grass, flowers and duckweed. There was no need to stand up now. I was right next to the flowers and I was already wet. I sat and looked at the cardinal flowers for some time. They look like swans or cranes and they have the perfect lines of a ball gown. There were at least a hundred blooms. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw another just across the stream. With just a single bloom. I watched it there alone. Left out or independent? Who could tell? But it drew me too it. I pulled my legs out of the mud and felt the water run down into my shoes. My jeans were black from my knees down and covered with every sort of plant and sticks. I brushed the mud deeper into my jeans in a vain attempt to clean them, then swatted a mosquito. Yeah, I felt the mud run down my face. I rinsed my hands in the water and waded across the stream. I made it almost all the way across before I tripped. I went down again into the mud. But now my arms had sunk up to my elbows. The water and mud smelled of rot. My hands came out with a sucking sound. I stood again and took the last couple steps to the lone flower. I sat on a small dryish ridge right next to it. This lone flower had drawn all the energy from the plant. It was perfect, vibrant and so very beautiful. I was amazed and mesmerized. Lost in my thoughts I didn’t notice the cooling wind or the darkening sky. The wind build up and rain began to fall. I sat there mesmerized by the lone red dancer. In time I rose, walked back to the path and toward the car. I reminded myself that sometimes to share a moment with a flower you will need to jump off cliffs and crawl through the mud to get there. And I guess that’s what you do with a flower. Anything just to be near it.