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“The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, / Burned on the water; … / Purple the sails, and so perfumed, that / The winds were love-sick with them; …” An excerpt from Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra. A description of her preferred mode of travel up and down the Nile, and the lingering after-effects of her presence.
My lilac trees are in bloom. We have a white lilac tree near the pond and just outside our kitchen window is a most magnificent purple lilac tree whose branches are filled with blooms. If anything could make the winds in my neighborhood “love-sick” it would be their perfume. And if not the lilac, then my Galaxy magnolia on the front lawn with its spectacular purple flowers that are also so fragrant.
I caught a passerby on the street leaning in to smell the heady fragrance of the magnolia now that it is in full bloom. He told me he was taken by the tree’s stunning flowers. He described it “a visual feast for the eyes” and was surprised to discover the scent, although he suspected as much. Something that beautiful could not be without a rich aroma.
The color purple best describes my blog tonight.
“Purple rose up to his full height. He was very tall and spoke with great pomp: ‘I am the color of royalty and power. Kings, chiefs and bishops have always chosen me. For I am the sign of authority and wisdom. People do not question me! They listen and obey!’” An excerpt from The Colors Of Friendship–Author Unknown.
Our deep-purple tulips have risen to their full height as well. The tulip is called “Queen of the Night.” They’re supposed to be black, but they’re really a deep shade of the color purple.
“And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain thrilled me–filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before.”–Edgar Allan Poe.
“The lilacs, bending many a year, / With purple load will hang; / The bees will not forget the tune / Their old forefathers sang. …” An excerpt from Nature’s Changes by Emily Dickinson.
Unfortunately, the software does not yet exist that would allow me to capture the fragrant essence of most of these blooms in my blog photos tonight. If and when the software ever becomes available, I would be more than happy to share what makes the gentle breezes around my home “love-sick.”
“My heart was full of sorrow / So I took it to the hill, / And bathed it in the clear burn / When all the air was still.
“I held it to the west wind / And warmed it in the sun, / In peaceful, purple silence / Till the healing had begun.” The Healing Place by C. M. Douglas, and featured in the 1998 edition of The Friendship Book of Francis Gay, published by D. C. Thomson and Company.
There is something healing about this color when it appears in the wild.
***
Don Jackson
