An Ode to the Sunflowers

Dory told me once that sunflowers (Helianthus annuus), having spent their entire existence following the daily path of the sun across the summer sky, all die facing towards the east.  Ever since then I have been looking for evidence to dispel that theory.  Its the beginning of autumn here and today we were out and about on the Tuscan valley plain (more about that shortly - this is not ALL about the sadness of sunflowers).  We happened to drive past some commercial crops of sunflowers which had expired and were awaiting harvest.  Without exception, each of them was bowed towards the east.
This filled me with melancholy.  I imagined the poor old sunflower near the end of his natural life, having tracked the summer sun daily from east to west across the sky, summoning up his diminishing strength at the end of one day to return to face the east, only to find that effort was in vain and he would never track the sun again!
Needless to say, my travelling companions mocked my empathy for the sunflower.  When I told them I was going to express my melancholy in the form of poetry, they mocked again, then turned to AI to avoid full consideration of the fate of the poor old Helianthus.  I, on the other hand, confronted the issue, did the hard yards myself and wrote a haiku and a limerick in honour of the sunflower, and I share them with you here:

​Sun’s diurnal path
Traced by sunflower ranks
Who quit to the east.

 … or …

A self aware sunflower called Fred
All his life chased the Sun with his head
With his strength at its least
He turned to the east
And woke up to find himself dead. 
​

Apart from the sad plight of the sunflowers, we had another lovely day.  We found our way to the beautiful hilltop fortress of Montecatini Alto where we wandered the ancient cobbled streets and enjoyed an alfresco lunch, before retracing our steps past the sad ranks of sunflowers and back to our villa.