Red Amaryllis

Each year my colleagues at work pick names for a gift exchange. An initial gift, presented anonymously, customarily includes something personally made by the giver. My week was brightened by a poem on the beautiful red amaryllis that will blossom a few weeks from now -- when I have potted the bulb that accompanied these (I hope! I hope!) prescient lines.

Rising resolutely despite the dwindling daylight and sounding silent
Reveille, the red amaryllis,
Regal in her ruby-hued robe,
Rebuffs winter’s withering embrace.

Radiant, it refuses to don reason’s dreary pall. Irrationality trumps timid
Rule-sticking. The red amaryllis,
Resplendent in raiment reminiscent of summer’s revelry,
Rejects the inevitability of despair.

“Remember the lilies of the field?” it seems to say. Hope quickens.
Revived by the red amaryllis,
Reverence reappears to remind us of
Resurrection.



Photo of a red amaryllis from sepintx