Long-time parishioner, Mary Lee, upon visiting the spectacular violet-carpeted meadow behind the Drippé home, shared this award-winning poem she had written years ago:
FIRST LOVE
Walking through the meadow on a lovely springtime morn,
I pause to savor the leafy clusters of violets
casting shadows upon the earth for such a little while.
The splendor of Nature’s pristine beauty
engulfed my soul with a joy somehow akin to sorrow,
as suddenly I was transported to a time long ago …
a time of innocence and promise untold.
The young girl raced down her dead-end street
and entered the woods, full of such delights
scarcely know to a child of today:
the great hill for sledding on winter’s blanket of snow,
and for rolling down in springtime gaiety;
trees bowed low for climbing, offering their leaves
in season for nature study or a child’s work of art;
babbling brook for hunting tadpoles and clay,
or walking barefoot on slippery mossy stones;
rambling paths for exploring, winding this way and that,
leading to the alcove of bent boughs
where she could be alone in her musings.
But the girl had only one thing on her mind this day –
to welcome them upon their arrival!
For most enchanting of all in this wooded fairyland
were violets magnanimously strewn
o’er the brown-green tones of the woods,
springing to life when robins sing,
charming the girl – becoming her – steadfast and true,
returning each Spring as though they’d never gone away.
She had only to seek them and treasure their presence,
to bask in their fragrance and tenderly pick them
for a special Mother’s bouquet.
Half a century later the modest beauty of violet petals
protected by leaves of darkest green
softens and soothes my anguished heart,
so ravaged by the merciless winds of time
and Life’s beguiling choices,
warming it with inexplicable love
for the violets that whisper of a gentler day.
Mary Lee is one of the founding members of Joy of All Who Sorrow. She has served in various positions over the course of three decades and continues to serve as Church Secretary and Bookkeeper for Joy Property Management. Mary also serves as a volunteer in St. Seraphim’s Bookstore, where you can visit her on Tuesday afternoons while you shop.
