Wild Flower Friends

Last week I took a quick drive north or Kewaunee and Door counties to see my dear aunt and my sister-in-law.  I had an urge to see visit them both, see Lake Michigan, and get some more smoked fish before fall.  My sister-in-law has lots of naturalized gardens filled with mostly native plants, and these photos are from her flower beds. The trip was good for my soul in all sorts of ways, and I think they were relieved to see me looking well.

I also have had a number of friends gifting me with all sorts of things - scarves to cover my bald head, nice hand written notes, vintage pottery, and sometimes old books they think I might like to include in my art.  One woman friend gifted me a small volume of poems published in 1931 that had belonged to her mother, and this poem was in that book.  The style is not modern, with all the lines capitalized and a regular rhyme scheme, but I liked the sentiment and appreciated the gift.

Wild Flower Friends
by Emma Peirce


One of our rarest joys
   When we country roads explore,
Is to welcome wild flower friends
   Of the seasons gone before.

They come crowding all about us
   As if with welcome too;
They give high lights of color
   To every distant view.

They are clambering up hillsides,
   They are massed in meadows sweet,
They are roaming through the woodlands,
   They are right here at our feet.

So true they are and loyal,
   We can always count the day
When we will find them ready
   To greet us on our way.

Some are shy, in hiding,
   For those we have to seek:
But we're sure to find them waiting; --
   We know the very week!

So individual are they,
   For all occasions meet:
Though different in myriad ways,
   They all are passing sweet.

They are marvels of shape and contour,
   Through the gamut of color they run;
Oh! They are wonderful pals of ours,
   These children of the sun!

While radiating beauty,
   They are serving their own ends:
But they make us more than grateful
   For those hosts of flower friends.