White Flowers in June
White softness is joining the landscape, so unlike the green grass, leafy trees, rain clouds. It almost makes me giddy to greet the pureness, the hope.
I think of constellations and angels when I see the Queen Anne’s Lace. That’s the flower running alongside my country roads. Tall, they seem to float and dance with the wind.
A magnolia tree in bloom. The shape of the tree is recognizable—that’s my first clue. Well worth my time when I search for blooms in June. Many brides use the white blossoms in the ceremony that binds them to another.
Peace lilies. It’s like an invitation to come into the white spiral, to follow it as it swirls down to its knees. It’s almost a promise that I, too, can wear white light.
After winter, after the hard rains in early spring, I’m more than ready for June and its flowers. It feels like a new beginning, and I want to fill my arms with it.
Songbirds sing. I listen from my porch early in the morning. Nothing distracts them. They dance their story.
My job seems simple: to see and hear their stories. God put them here, and I’m drawn to them. Like a hummingbird, I see the red, the blue, the yellow blooms, but it’s the white ones that seem untainted, strong and yet deep. Maybe that color affects me like a prayer. Certainly, I am touched by the white hydrangeas, the white roses, white daisies.
In my world, it’s a time when the grocery bill triples, when flags hang upside down, when news may not be true news, when wildfires eat hunks of an entire state. Much I do not understand. But I know to look for hope, read scripture, and listen to the whispers in the wind.
I wish you solitude, time to rest and know that you can lean on the Lord God, just as the flowers do. My plan for the day—to wear a white shirt, just to remind me.
God bless,
Pat Durmon
P.S. If you know of anyone who might benefit by reading this or any of my bog posts, please share!
Magnolia blossoms. Photograph taken by Pat Durmon, 2023.
Poetry Books by Pat Durmon
The story of Lee R. Farrier from Norfork, Arkansas, is Pat's first book of prose and a tribute to Lee, the town of Norfork, and its people. All profits from sales go toward a scholarship at Norfork High School.