Buttercup, Poppy, Forget…

Buttercup, poppy, forget-me-not--

These three bloomed in a garden spot;

And once, all merry with song and play,

A little one heard three voices say:

"Shine and shadow, summer and spring,

O thou child with the tangled hairAnd laughing eyes!

We three shall bringEach an offering passing fair.

"The little one did not understand,

But they bent and kissed the dimpled hand.

When I was a kid I used to trick the girls I liked by saying that I could tell if they liked butter or not. I'd take a buttercup, hold it under their chin so that the sun reflected the yellow light from the flower onto the smoothness of soft skin and - if I could get away with it – quickly declare that they did like butter whilst stealing an even quicker kiss. Not much of a trick really, and all very innocent back then.

It looks like a good year for wild flowers. Maybe it’s the early summer or global warming, or it could be that because farmers have been told to use fewer sprays to keep the weeds in their fields down. The buttercups, poppies, forget-me-nots - all kinds of wild flowers are doing really well and buttercups seem to be having a great year, they seem to be everywhere. Grounded patches of sunshine cover the fields, sweep down the sides of motorways, flowery yellow roads like the yellow brick road in the Wizard-of -Oz.

Buttercup, poppy, forget-me-not… Do you like butter?

I can’t wait to steal those kisses.