About a week ago my lovely neighbour handed me a bunch of roses because she thought I needed a smile. And indeed I did smile each and every time I saw them or walked past them in the room.
Flowers though don’t last forever. So as I had to remove them to the compost bin this morning I made a special note to go fetch some more from the shop. “They don’t have to cost much” I told myself. Its more a token. I love to see flowers in a room.
So, before I started work this Saturday morning I popped up to the shop.
Standing before the semi-reasonable bank of flowers in front of me I first look at colour – what strikes me, and then reign that in with matching the price tag to my “they don’t have to cost much”.
A few bunches seemed to be priced at around the £2 mark. That settled nicely into my “not costing much” budget. Then I saw a bucket of bunches marked £1.80. Ooooh bargain.. what are they?
Sweet William.
That made me smile as I thought of the only William that comes to mind whenever I hear that name. My Grandad. Looking at the flowers though, I have to admit I wasn’t really looking for something that looked like this. I’m not sure what I was after, but these didn’t seem to be it.
As I looked at the other things a kinda nagging feeling settled within me. “Yes but – William…! Remembering Grandad?” I started to investigate the little bunches a bit more closely. Some where all deep pinks and purples, and there were one or two bunches that seemed to have more paler ones in – which I preferred. My hand landed on one bunch and as I pulled it closer to check the colours, I saw a speck of white. Not from a flower.
A white feather attached to one of the blooms.
Well that was it. It definitely had to be this bunch now, even if they didn’t have many paler blooms in them.
To make up for it I got a small bunch of other flowers to mix in with them. And when I started to vase them up at home, realised that it wasn’t just Grandad coming through this morning, but Nana too. As in the second bunch of flowers there was an amazingly rich red rose.
Sweet Williams for Grandad and “Red roses for a Blue Lady” for Nana. (A song she used to sing a fair bit).
I found a song called Sweet William today – recorded by Johnny Flynn. I love the lyrics to the last two verses.
For we in the love of an earth-bidden dance
Stand enthralled of that, which from heaven, perchance
Lets us move with the gifts we were given in grace
And smile in the arms of Sweet William’s embrace.
I was born with this story, it’s older than I
And yet you when you hear it you’ll know in the sky
In the wind of your knowledge, In the cut of your jib
That the fibre of wind is as new from my lip
As was ever and more and ever will be
‘Til the union we face casts us finally free
As was ever, and more and ever will be.