What's Underneath

This is what is left when clematis flower petals fall off.  Striking, no?

Here it is with petals.  Quite lovely, but in a very different way.

We all of us have outer selves and inner selves and some kind of structure that holds it all together physically and also something that holds us together spiritually.

It all has its form (of some kind) and function (of some kind) and it all has its own beauty.

When our lovely outward petals fall off, we have something else that is also beautiful in perhaps a different way.

As I get older, I become more interested in the part that's underneath.