Tag: Diversity

Searching For Beauty

On either side of the stone walkway

flowers bloom, rooted and swaying,

Blue bonnets and yellow Texas Star

Purple verbena,

Scarlet clematis,

the five petaled amongst the four,

and I think to myself What a Wonderful World.

The people come into the garden, some pushing strollers,

older tourist couples, mixed race families,

a young trans woman giving her family a tour,

three women in saris, royal blue, green, maroon,

and I think to myself What a Wonderful World.

A child wanders past the blooming pond iris, looking for the turtle,

while another runs into the limestone courtyard,

a paper scavenger hunt clutched in one hand,

his father lingering to admire the stone archway,

and I think to myself What a Wonderful World.

There is a Celebration of Life in the Great Hall,

and a baby shower in the Library.

A mocking bird sings nearby,

while laughter echoes from both buildings as a woman with a walker smiles at pink primroses,

and I think to myself What a Wonderful World.

The people come searching for beauty in the blooms and my wish is that they also find it in the faces of others.

(from What a Wonderful World by George David Weise and Bob Thiele)

Link to the song sung by Louis Armstrong:

Flower Photos by B. McCreary

The Voice of the Spiderwort

I am two and a half months above ground and about two and a half feet tall. My sturdy stalk and alternately placed, elegant leaves are a beautiful emerald green.

Up top, my face is soft and purple with pretty, yellow projections that are kissed and tickled by native bees…

And Honey Bees…

They like my sweetness. I look around and see many others that look like me and I wave my leaves to let my siblings know I see them.

I have been told that we are the descendants of beings that lived millions of years ago. I am a happy being and I know I bring joy to the mammals that live in the house nearby. The female mammal told me that her mother brought my ancestors here from her own yard twenty years ago. The female mammal planted them over there by what is now a pond. And from those few beings we have become many.

I acknowledge the other grounded ones, my cousins. They are different and yet the same as me. We are beautiful in our own way. Just like the mammals, especially the human ones, our differences make the world richer.

Each morning I open my three petaled face to a new day and close up and am done by evening. The next morning a new trio of petals opens. I am happy to be alive after almost perishing in the bitter, cold of last Valentine’s day. I think some of my family did not make it and that is sad. There are a few less of us this year. But, we will not be destroyed and we will probably outlast many of earth’s other, more mobile creatures.

I will lose my above ground body in the heat of the summer and lay dormant until my green shoots push, once again, up into the sky.

May I bring you joy and peace this season and in all the years to come. And may I inspire you to kindness.

(All photos by Betty McCreary 2021)