by Francesca Guarducci
I saw a dandelion today
I closed my eyes and made a wish
As it broke apart,
And drifted with the wind,
I remembered
You & I
Running barefoot in your garden,
Our white dresses dancing in the wind
Daisies tickling our feet
As we chased butterflies
And whispered secrets,
Our little laughter floating in the air
As I braided daisies in your hair.
Some say the flower was once a Queen
By the name of Alceste,
Who sacrificed herself for love
Others say she was a nymph of the meadows
By the name of Belides
Who danced where the orchards softened into fields,
Who prayed to the gods to save her from a horrible fate,
And the gods answered,
Folding her body into a flower,
Bellis they called her,
Bellis Perennis,
Everlasting Daisy.
I remember looping the stems carefully
To make us daisy tiaras
While you sat and ate them,
Petal by petal
Like it was the most natural thing in the world.
I remember plucking them one by one,
Chanting:
Il m’aime
un peu, – pluck
Beaucoup, – pluck
Passionnément, – pluck
À la folie – pluck
Pas du tout – pluck
The ending always felt like chance,
But it turns out,
Pas du tout
Is rare
It wasn’t luck or love,
But rather numbers arranged in a sequence beneath the petals.
We plucked and plucked,
Until all that was left was a yellow pearl
And we were surrounded by long stemmed corpses.
I saw daisies dancing in the meadow,
Ox-eye daisies catching the sun,
The same way we tried catching butterflies.
I saw daisies dancing in the meadow,
A thousand ox-eye daisies dancing with the wind,
The same way we danced in your garden.
I remember feeling as though were the queens of the enchanted forest,
We were the nymphs,
Adorned with flower crowns,
Letting the grass remember our shape
As we made angels out of spring
Our childish hearts believing the petals spoke of love.
But we were young then,
Believing in love
And in the way a flower would choose our fate.
I saw daisies dancing in the meadow,
Ox-eye daisies glistening like stars in the sky
The same way your garden glistened when it rained.
And I remember that the garden is gone now,And lives only in my body
The romanticized version of us dissolved
Like sunlight on the grass,
And all that remains are memories,
Of everlasting daisies.