Saturday, April 21, 2007

Lilacs

Elizabeth's Lilacs
by Xlaogang Zhu



April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
~T.S. Eliot



The lilac has always been my signature flower. I can never get enough of its evocative fragrance. Once, as a teenager, my high school sweetheart filled my car with arm loads of blossoms. I still recall the memory when I breath the fragrance.

Later, my husband indulged my love of lilacs by introducing me to the Ewing Park in Des Moines, where the Lilac Arboretum is nothing short of supernal. As newlyweds we lived nearby and I remember brilliant spring days, running from bush to bush and exclaiming over the variety of colors and fragrances. And the high point of it all was to just lay on a blanket and get intoxicated with the perfume.

Never the blossoms of nobility, lilacs are loved by "common folk". In the language of flowers, their short-lived blooms symbolize humility.

Chalk up one more good reason to be ordinary!

What is your signature flower?

3 comments:

Ginger said...

Oh, lilacs are so tempting! You just want to bury your nose in their sweet scent. But if you ask about my signature flower, it would have to be the catteleya orchid. I don't have any and can't buy them, but I grew up with them in our backyard in Malaysia, and I still think they are the most beautiful.

The painting is gorgeous.

Anonymous said...

I love peonies...and lilacs. I enjoyed your description of the lilac belonging to the commoner. Flowers should be displayed as in the beautiful painting, artfully "haphazard".

ichthys said...

Hi ,I found your blog when searching for poiema on google as it is the same title I used for my latest poetry chapbook(isbn 1-903203-562).Also in church yesterday Exodus 31:3 was mentioned and this verse contains the Hebrew equivalent to poiema namely melakah(strongs 4399) and is used therein in a way that reflects the vision of your blog.
This is my blog below about lanterne poetry which contains a link to a yahoo workshop that I moderate.
I will revisit your excellent blog from time to time as it coincides with my Christian viewpoint inregard to our being God's work of art.Rgds Brian strand ENGLAND
http://quintain.blogspot.com/