-- Forget Me Nots --

John Herlihy

Myosotis have five blue petals,

A center of yellow rind,

They whisper forget me not

On the breath of wind.

They awaken from slumber wide-eyed,

Nod in prayer to dawn’s sky.

Bedecked in dew as if they had cried,

On no one else but God relied.

Born in the primordial waters

Of early spring,

They announce the new season

With voices that sing.

Fed on the waters of alpine heights,

They absorb mountain glow.

In gentle breeze, they wave in delight,

Giving away all they know.

Such a bouquet of lovely flowers,

Unique of their kind.

They fall from trellises in celestial bowers,

To shyly enter the human mind.

The tender buds simply burst into bloom,

As if they can no longer wait.

To spread their beauty into a hovel’s room,

Their exotic aromas never hesitate.

Called by the ancient Greeks a mouse’s ear,

A dewdrop falls as the flower’s tear.

When they fall back into earth, spent and rotten,

Their namesake ensures they are never forgotten.

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(c) John Herlihy 4 October 2019