"Please don't tear the flower."

Friday evening in June. The flower of the month in Japan is hydrangea. A man in front of a house tends round dark blue blooms. A sign hangs from a flower. I mimic, “Don’t pick the flowers?” The man assents, his posture apologetic.

A Japanese friend translates. The sign cautions, as a mother to a little child: "The flowers are crying. Please kindly don't tear the flowers."

Add a language, add a pun.