Lilium longiflorum

Ahh, the lovely Easter lily has arrived! I got mine today and just admired its stark white beauty and trumpet-shaped flowers, and my heart rejoiced in the symbolism of resurrection life. Here it is, that white-robed apostle of hope, on my back deck as the sun sank low.

A wonderful poem by American poet Anne Porter, in her mid-nineties when the treasury this is part of, Living Things: Collected Poems, was published (talk about a late bloomer), begs to be read:

AN EASTER LILY

[Ahem, the first verse
is now missing
because I was kindly informed
by a commenter below
That I was violating copyright law.
This beautiful verse
used to be about
A Paschal moon
Shining into our homes
With radiant ceremony]

…here’s the rest of the amazing poem,
I’m so sorry I can’t post all of it:

I for my part received
An Easter lily
Whose whiteness
Is past belief

Its blossoms
The shape of trumpets
Are mute as swans

But deep and strong as sweat
Is their feral perfume.

by Anne Porter

Though native to the Ryukyu Islands of southern Japan, I love the fact that the Easter Lily Capital of the World is on the southern coast of MY state, Oregon!

I’ve been savoring these days leading up to Easter, this most glorious of all Christian holidays. I’m trying to incorporate traditions into my family, and when holidays come around, I’m always on the lookout for a meaningful observance to weave into our life. I didn’t grow up with traditions, and even as a child I was very sad about that. I want my own children to be grown and say to one another, “Don’t you remember when we always picked out an Easter lily for our table, and one for Grandma, too?”

Take pleasure in this week, and hold onto your traditions or create new ones.

(I’m ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille.)