The ubiquitous spring flower named from the Greek goddess of the rainbow. I am not sure how to describe the color -- or even if the color I see is the color everyone else sees-- but what first occurred to me was the crayola color "flesh" which I see has been changed to "peach". We could all agree on a blue or red but I am not sure how a glowing peach would be a common choice . (I just found that there are now 120 crayola colors and the big box now contains 64 colors (how are the colors selected for the box?) and has a sharpener on it).
Iris, would take messages from the eye of Heaven to earth by the arc of the rainbow. She was also a companion to females on the way to the other world; her duty to accompany the souls to the Elysian fields after life.
Taken from the stylized shape of the flower, the Fleur-de-Lis has symbolized France since the 13th century. The black iris (iridaceae nigricans) is the national flower of Jordan and cannot be taken from the wild lest ye be penalized!!
Henry W. Longfellow's take on it:
Thou art the Iris, fair mong the fairest,
Who armed with golden rod
And winged with the celestial azure, bearest
The message of some God.
Thou art the Muse, who far from crowded cities
Hauntest the sylvan streams
Playing on the pipes of reed the artless ditties
That come to us as dreams
O flower-de-luce, bloom on, and let the river
Linger to kiss thy feet!
O flower of song, bloom on, and make for ever
The world more fair and sweet.
"fleur-de-luce" ~ flower of light
My take on it:
Glowing walls of light into which I flow
peace and scents within
for a brief nap ..............
inside looking out
A beautifully colored bearded iris. I had forgotten Longfellow's poem on irises - a delight to read again.
ReplyDeleteI have a very deep burgundy group blooming at the moment. They are short bearded iris.
Bravo!! Love this post, Goatman, a new favorite. The Fleur-de-Lis is a symbol that has followed me around for a while now. It is also the symbol that Louisville uses on its flags, signs, etc., as does New Orleans.
ReplyDeleteI'm very happy to learn more about it through you - a wonderful source!
Love always!
There are Iris in my garden...they are the common purple garden Iris, but even so, they are beautiful. They won't pop out here for a couple of months yet, so I'm happy to see a photo of your very pretty Iris. I am anticipating the thickening blooms on the small plot I have...and then those deep purple-blue blooms! Spring will really have arrived then.
ReplyDeletesaved the picture and hope won't be penalised :-)
ReplyDeletestarted a new blog on music, writing music, music and animation programming and anything in between at
mantessa.blogspot.com
Beautiful flower, beautiful poem. Perfect for a sunny Sunday afternoon.
ReplyDeleteWow, what the most beautiful flower and what a great photo......
ReplyDeletex
Beautiful world information, makes death seem an adventure ... almost.
ReplyDeleteAzer,
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome to copy anything on my blog. I try to make the photos about 400 kilobytes to keep them a good reproducible size, with detail.
The complexity and beauty of life never ceases to amaze me. Great picture and poem!
ReplyDeleteoh that is so beautiful
ReplyDeleteI am saving the picture too. I dont think I've ever seen anything like this before. Lovely color.. serene ..
ReplyDeleteGood evening Goatman,
ReplyDeleteI hope that your well ;D
A brilliant post and the Fleur-de-Lis is beautiful.
Beautiful flower, beautiful poem. Thanks for sharing....
ReplyDeleteHi Goatman,
ReplyDeleteI think your little poem writing is just as poetic and nice as the others in your post..:o)
I know what you mean about the color of this flower..it's one of my favorite colors. I used to call this color "peach", even did a whole bedroom based on peach color, walls, trim,etc..many many years ago in "another lifetime".. i.e. when I was married.
It's funny like you I find that people look at the same color I'm looking at and call it different colors, like "coral", "pink", even "pastel orange". I've heard this color in your photo also be called "Blush"...which I decided years ago that Blush is what I now like to call what others call "peach, coral, pastel orange"...now I always just call it "Blush" as this word is a beaufitul word in writing and upon saying outloud. Don't you think?..:o)
I love Pansies such beautiful colors, velvety to the "touch" and you can't buy them at a flower store because they are too "delicate".
Hope your doing well and enjoying the lovely colors of late spring.
Blessings,
Rhi
back here to shamelessly promote my latest blog post which is shamelessly promoting a new charity project - please read it and if you feel able help advertise (or contribute in any other way) that would be FAB
ReplyDeleteGlowing walls of light into which I flow
ReplyDeletepeace and scents within
for a brief nap ..............
inside looking out
how refreshing when you words falls into me...
Yes, I believe you have captured the essence of the iris, from the inside...
ReplyDeleteI love the iris! They have wonderful fragrance and I love the "caterpillars" crawling down their petals!!
ReplyDeleteso much to know about the origin of my name. :)
ReplyDeletethat was a nice photo, love the color as much as the flower.
the poem was great, love it too!
nice day goatman!!!
I love this post and your Princess Iris is exquisite. I can't imagine life without flowers.
ReplyDeleteiris
ReplyDeleteknows what life is...
loved your take very much...