Her Nature
We are all a product of nature. I know mine...but what of hers? What if I could find her in nature? What would I find?
Were she like a lily what would her world look like? If she were a lily, would she have the illusion of radiance and life but the reality of fading away. A living Death? You know, from a distance, the roadside Tiger lilies paint a bright picture but upon closer inspection, Life bleeds from those lilies that draw the eye from a distance. Like lilies, would she have that natural beauty that is undeniable there but very difficult to put your finger on what it is that makes her so fetching? Stargazer lilies and Calla lilies remain some of the most beautiful objects that I've ever laid eyes on but I can't explain why.
If she were a dandelion, would she have the sheer will to exist wherever she pleases despite knowing that someone, somewhere is looking to mow her down again and again. Could she continue to rise knowing that the harsh blades that have cut her down so many times before lurk and wait to repeat the process? Would she see herself the way that children see dandelions? Beautiful and worthy of being admired. Much too soon the dandelion stops being a thing of beauty and then becomes nothing more than a weed.
Would she be a rose? Beauty unmatched by anything other that the pain attached with getting too close to those thorns. A rose can't concern herself with anything outside of her own beauty and a rose makes no apologies for that. Roses captivate us because they demand our admiration and attention and nothing less than that would do. There's a cruel poetry in a rose's vanity and a valuable lesson in having a healthy dose of self love. There is also the priceless lesson in learning to look outside of one's self and loving others as well as loving yourself.
Could she bear the burden that trees carry? Could she carry the heaviness of her Winter without breaking? Could she bend without breaking in the same fashion as the branches of the Weeping Willow or would snap like the brittle branches of a tree whose time has passed. The willow has a strength that might go unnoticed by most but for those who see that strength, we can't help but respect that quiet strength. She may find that inner strength is the the only thread that she'll have to hold on to sometimes in life and that strength can be enough to keep her from breaking.
If she were a daisy, simple yet stunning in color and design, would that be enough for her? Would she feel the need to conform to the grocery store daisies, the ones that someone deemed "not pretty enough" and then doused in colors that the daisies were never meant to wear? Would she feel "less than" if she didn't comform? Would she take joy in what she is and celebrate it as opposed to trying to erase it. The grocery store daisies show no resemblence to what they really are and that's a tragedy.
She could be the Lilac bush and have the ability to change the world with just a whisper of a breeze. She could remind us of a time when we felt happier and our hearts were lighter. Even now I recognize this in her even if she doesn't see it. She's my Lilac bush and she doesn't even have to try!
Perhaps she's the field of wildflowers that carry the unknown until it's time for us to know. She'd blossom in ways that we could never predict. She'd be the unsolvable puzzle. An absolute mystery and that would draw me in. She would be light and dark simultaneously. The beauty of the finished product and the sense of wonder that she'd evoke would be juxtaposed with the dark, dense, and unknown earth's ability to produce fear in the hearts of those who don't like the dark. Beauty and light in fragmented pieces thrown together with shards of unseen ugliness that we might fear lurks beneath the earth. And let's not forget the dark. Sometimes that scares us the most. I like to think that the fear can be transformed into a lesson about recognizing that light and dark need each other to exist and the dark can be a time and a place to retreat and when the time is right, just grow! That darkness serves as a clean slate and the opportunity to begin again. It's a way to acknowledge where we've come from and what we aim to do in life. Grow! Regroup and grow!
She'll be whatever she wants to be when it's all said and done. Sometimes she'll find herself being whatever she needs to be out of self preservation and when her season changes, she will she! She'll take many forms because that's how she'll know who she is. She'll learn to have the dandelion's resilience when she needs to. She'll learn to be the tree and bend without breaking when she finds herself needing that extra strength. She'll be the rose who will be beautiful and know that she's beautiful without apology. She'll be the daisy who knows that she needs only to be concerned with what makes her happy and with any luck, maybe she'll rescue some of the grocery store painted daisies who worry too much about pleasing others. She'll be those wildflowers and she'll be the earth that it all comes from. She'll be that Lilac bush who'll be that whisper on the breeze that helps lift up those who feel like they have no joy left. She'll be someone's whisper on a breeze that carries with it the memories of good times and hope for better days ahead.
She'll wilt and fade away and her season willl soon become an afterthought until it's time for her to be born again into yet another season. She'll be everything at some point in time and then she'll change. It's her nature.
I really do love that girl of mine!
