SHE dwelt among the untrodden ways
Beside the springs of Dove,
A Maid whom there were none to praise
And very few to love:
A violet by a mossy stone
Half hidden from the eye!
--Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.
She lived unknown, and few could know
When Lucy ceased to be...
These lines are from my Mom's favorite poem by William Wordsworth. As a little girl, Mom lived in the mountains of Pennsylvania. You may have guessed, I was named after her...and she taught me to love the trees, the wildflowers and the babbling brook. Even though I was raised in the "burbs" I learned to love nature because of her. I'm guessing Mom's love for the plants, the trees and everything wild has much to do with her Native American roots.
Over the years, whenever we visited a garden or nature center, Mom would tell me about the jack-in-the pulpits, the May Apples etc. and how she grew up surrounded by their beauty. She would point out the different trees and I learned how to recognize them too, all the different species. The white oaks, the dogwoods, the red buds...the birch and beech and maples.
Eventually when I had a wooded lot of my own back in Maryland, I was able to name most of the trees and wildfowers, all from Mom's descriptions. Once, I even found a wild Ladies Slipper growing along the pond and knew right away what it was because Mom used to talk about finding them in the mountains as a kid. I grew to love the beautiful but simple things in life, the mossy stone, the humingbird building it's nest. These are but just a few of the good things I learned from my Mom. Happy Birthday Mommy. I wish I could be there to help you celebrate!
No comments:
Post a Comment