A Poem for Easter from Jill Pirdas
- Admin
- Apr 2
- 2 min read
This poem came to me one Spring when the ugly wizened rhizomes that I had planted the previous year shot up into these magnificent flowers. I thought what a miracle this transformation was: that something which had appeared dead should be "resurrected" into this glorious blossom.
I was so moved by this beauty that I did a little research into these flowers' history. Iris usually blossom around Easter time when we think of our Lord's mother Mary and her broken heart. The plant has been likened to the "Sword Lily" that was planted on the graves of women and whose glaive-like leaves pierced the heart of Our Lady of Sorrows.
IRIS
Proud on her stem,
Rainbow ragged,
Iris flaunts her flags.
Delicately showy,
Flouting April showers,
She shoots skywards from
A fan of bladed spathes.
Once a dry and wrinkled rhizome,
She defies her origins
To offer up her falls and sepals
To the humble bumble bee.
Iris, Greek Goddess,
A messenger from the heavens
Rode to Earth on a rainbow:
Her three standards and three falls:
Faith, wisdom and valour
Inspired the fleur de lis.
Iris: Sword Lily,
Grown on the graves of women,
Our lady of sorrows,
Heart pierced by glaive shaped leaves,
She summons the goddess
To guide their souls.
Thutmose, king of Egypt,
Awed by her barbarous beauty,
Snatched her from her Syrian soils
To bed her in his palace grounds.
Six centuries have passed,
Yet still she offers up her splendour:
An explosion of crumpled silks
To grace my flower beds.
A royal guest amidst the common folk.
Jill April 2023
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