A bouquet of peonies graced my home for a week. It's transformation mesmerizing. Every day, every hour was a discovery in color, shape, form, achingly beautiful to witness. The perky coral freshness, giving away to ripe pinks and shades of white, it's presence demanding. One morning they had shed their color to stand bold in white as in prayer to the eminent death that awaited them. Sunday came, the table was scattered with their ethereal petals, fragile shells of a life that fully lived in my dining room.