With the clouds opening up to let the rays of the Winter sun in,
few feet away from the stupid trash a delighted Small White (or that’s what I think it is – correct me if I’m wrong) decided to inspect its world. Fl-fl-flaa-ap… Sticky wings due to the rain… Fla-ap… Fla-p… It gave up and smelled the air.
No rain… With the sun’s rays helping it, it flapped again… Flap! Flap… Flap-flap-flap and it lifted up in the air. He reveled in the warmth. He made cartwheels in the air and flew up, up, and up… He knew that the Plantville wasn’t far! With renewed vigor as the sun shined stronger, he flapped his wings faster, eager to meet his green friends and to see what they had to offer him.
But what he saw in Plantville shocked him. He heard someone sobbing. He gently perched on a hibiscus leaf and looked at the bent head. He was taken aback! It was Haemanta (Winter)! Tears trickled down his cold-white cheeks onto the still-drying surface. Small White had never seen Haemanta cry! Ermm… Well this was the second time he’s seeing Haemanta so not that he’d seen him many a times before, but Haemanta didn’t seem such weak a person though. Small White followed his gaze and it wasn’t a pleasant sight either.
It was evident! It’s all over for her! The Small White gently perched on Haemanta’s shoulder and soothed him…
She was born along with her siblings four months ago along with the Small White.
It was the showers of the Rainy Season that killed all her siblings.
She was rendered weak and unstable too. I shifted her to the terrace and the green and healthy environment cheered her up. I had to support her broken, weak, leg with sticks and didn’t hope for her to live. Within a month she improved and her leg was healing well.
I started hoping that she would live. Days after she matured she began bearing buds with her foster-mother – Sarad’s tending.
And soon started flowering…
What do you know! She began flowering profusely attracting Small White to her.
They became thick friends. She was always the one with a smiling face.
A month later she waited for her foster-father, Haemanta and the moment he arrived she was ready with her bouquet.
Haemanta hurried on, admiring her daughter’s beauty from a distance. He was told by Sarad that his daughter was doing well – very well and would live long… really long and that’s what I believed too.
Calendula Officinalis - Pot Marigold
But his associate – the dark daughter was jealous of his love towards his green daughter. She intentionally weakened her leg and I wasn’t there to help her! Unattended, she became helpless and as Haemanta neared her, she had no strength in her, but sent out two stalks of flowers with all the vigor that she had left in her, welcoming him and breathed her final breath.
Small White flapped gently and with his throat choking with sadness, he lifted himself up and joined the orange Hibiscus friend of his to mourn his best friend’s death…
11 comments:
Love the sky and butterfly shots!
Thank you, Kanak. In fact I was excited after capturing my first closeup of the Small White Butterfly.
What a sweet and melancholy story describing a life. Very nice.
Hi Tina, Welcome to Plant life... Over the course of years (not that I'm too old. Got tons of years to go :) ), I've learnt to look at life with a positive attitude. Of course you'd drop dead when the problem falls right on your head, but after you've recovered, I think one should take it as an experience instead of cursing fate. That's what I try to do.
That is so important, sometimes hard to do for even the most optimistic but trying is where it is at! Have a great day!
A well thought out piece of prose to describe the lifecycle of a pretty little flower. :)Thanks for stopping by my blog today & the nice comments.
perennialgardener: Hi, Thank you for the kind comments. I did like your blog so it's my pleasure to visit it. thoroughly enjoy reading yours!
Chandramouli, you should write something about gardening for children. Captivating.
Sad about the plant tho'. I hope Nisha lesser known cousin will be kinder on our plants!
Gardening for children? Yes, interesting. Will try. Thank you so much for the suggestion :)
It was sad, yes, but life goes on and yes, I really hope Nisha's cousin isn't so mean. She/He already seems to have come, with all the drizzling here...
Praying...
Your story is wonderful and so moving. The butterfly is a favorite of mine, and symbolizes life and rebirth, so I'm happy that your butterfly was able to nuture your plant and help life to grow and thrive:) I'm sad for your butterfly as well, though, as he had to lose his friend. It's the story of the circle of life, and there is always some sadness in that:( Thank you for sharing such a lovely piece of prose for us to ponder! Jan
A humble thank you again :). Since that's the first butterfly I saw in my garden, it's special to me to. In fact I should say that some of my thoughts did change after I started gardening. Plants teach you things silently - I believe in it now.
True that there's sadness in life, but think of a life without sadness - you can't be that way for at least more than say, a week or so. Life on earth still continues only because there's a balance between good and bad. No matter how much we struggle to eliminate the bad factors, it's those bad factors that make the good ones survive.
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