Roses, Lilies, An Iris and Other Flowers in An Earthenware Vase, with a Pot of Carnations and a Butterfly on a Ledge, 1612
I accepted the mission with great pleasure, without knowing exactly what it was about.
It was a tiny way to give back for everything this good friend does for me.
Nowadays people have very strange pets, lizards, spiders and even snakes, but I have a lot of experience taking care of children, dogs and similars, so I thought this would not be a problem.
I made a mistake.
My friend wrote down the detailed instructions for me. Food and drink hours that, depending on the weather, could vary.
When I met them, I was amazed by the delicacy and almost fragility of their beauty.
But above all, though mute and still, they were alive.
And so I would have to return them.
Every morning, I opened the gate of their garden and nervously, I looked at every possible corner where they lived, talking to them, or rather begging them:
– Please don’t die!
And it is that I have no idea if, in my eagerness to calm their hunger and thirst, I drown them or poison them.
Every morning, I woke up with a little anguish.
– Will they still be alive?
In the end I decided to relax, I think my lack of confidence was making them nervous. I decided to talk to them, sing to them and enjoy their wonderful colors and company. I even learned their names.
Orange lilies, incandescent sunflowers, blue hydrangeas, pale dahlias, pink peonies, purple and yellow pansies.
They survived me.
My friend returned from her trip and called me to tell me that her flowers were more beautiful than ever.
I breathed in relief. She rewarded me with a bottle of wine.
With no time to waste, I proceeded to drink it.
This time I felt that I was watering my own flowers, my thoughts, with water of poetry.
“With freedom, flowers and the moon,
who wouldn’t be perfectly happy?”
Oscar Wilde
Leonor Henríquez (Caracas, Venezuela) Civil Engineer by training (UCAB 1985), writer and apprentice poet by vocation. From her time in engineering emerged her Office Stories (1997), another way of seeing the corporate world. Her latest publications include reflections on grief, Hopecrumbs (2020) (www.hopecrumbs.com) and “The Adventures of Chispita” (2021) (www.chispita.ca) an allegory of life inside Mom’s belly.
Today she shares her “impulsive meditations” from Calgary, Canada, where she lives.
leonorcanada@gmail.com