“A Planted Memory”
You don’t have to walk very far in old fields and forest to find them, most always there’ll be a long forgotten home sites, Daffodils aren’t native to the area and have to be planted by human hands initially, they came with the settlers into the Appalachian mountains as they searched for a better life.
Some woman, man, or child had caringly planted these flowers on their temporary piece of Earth. The sun has risen and set many times since then, and most of the field where the houses once stood has returned to forest, yet this family of yellow flowers still persist. An echo of a homestead long forgotten.
I remember the hillside between the creek and the old house when I was a little boy. On those first warm spring days, when winter faded away, the slope was painted yellow with a multitude of flowers that had emerged. It was the prettiest sight to behold. Their proper name is daffodils, old folks called them (March flowers)
The old homes and people who lived there have long been gone. Laughter no longer rang out on that hillside, and cousins no longer stampeded through the mountains while their parents sat on the porch visiting. Still, as i glazed up the hill, the daffodils were there to greet me, as if nothing had ever changed. Just like that, I was a little boy again glancing at the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.
Now, every year, as winter fades away, this treasures begins to emerge. They signify that spring is here. But, they do more than that. They serve as reminders of a wonderful time in our life’s when the old folks were still with us, and family’s was present on a daily basis, and when a little house in the mountains was full of love and laughter.
Credits: J. Dishman
Via Straight Outta North Cove, North Carolina
