2021 Week 19: Sweetest Of The Flowers

Lily of the Valley, a symbol of modesty, kindness and compassion. The sweetest of the flowers that bloom in spring. Thriving in the shade and lighting up the darkness with its pure white dainty flowers. No wonder it was my Granny's favourite flower. Every May, my Mum and I would want to buy some for her birthday, in memory of the kindest and most loving person we had in our lives. However, the flower is protected in The Czech Republic and impossible to get at any florist. So my boyfriend planted a few in our garden. After three years the pot is abundant in these beautiful little flowers. The sweet fragrance lingers in the garden for a few short May weeks. And in that fragrance I find a little piece of my Granny, reminding me that she is always around, by my side and forever in my heart.

Sweetest Of The Flowers
Sweetest of the flowers a–blooming
In the fragrant vernal days
Is the Lily of the Valley
With its soft, retiring ways.

Well, you chose this humble blossom
As the nurse’s emblem flower,
Who grows more like her ideal
Every day and every hour.

Like the Lily of the Valley
In her honesty and worth,
Ah, she blooms in truth and virtue
In the quiet nooks of earth.

Tho’ she stands erect in honor
When the heart of mankind bleeds,
Still she hides her own deserving
In the beauty of her deeds.

In the silence of the darkness
Where no eye may see and know,
There her footsteps shod with mercy,
And fleet kindness come and go.

Not amid the sounds of plaudits,
Nor before the garish day,
Does she shed her soul’s sweet perfume,
Does she take her gentle way.

Paul Laurence Dunbar

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