Mythopoesis 8 – The Little White Flower

For NaPoWriMo Day 8

The Little White Flower

Good morning, Mama.
I heard you singing
in the dark. I like that song
about the rose, but I fell
right back to sleep,
didn’t hear you finish it.

Didn’t mean to wake you, child.
We have been talking about
the little white flower
in the Fool’s hand, and I
have always thought it was
a rose. That’s probably what
brought the song to my mind.

It’s okay Mama, I
love to hear you sing.
It makes me feel safe.
Will you tell me what
the flower means, now?

Yes, child. Come and eat.
We will talk while
we do that.

Oh, warm apple pie
for breakfast? We are having
dessert for breakfast?

I don’t want the pie
to go to waste, so yes,
we will eat it now. Apples
are good and healthy,
full of nutrients that
a body needs. An occasional
treat won’t hurt us, as long
as we don’t make a habit
out of it. You know,
don’t overdo it, or come
to think we can do it
all the time? That would not
be healthy for us,
or for our bodies.
Do you understand?

Yes, Mama. Teacher told
us about that. How sweets,
even if they taste good, can
be harmful for us. She called
it over…over indulgence? She
said that overdoing anything,
even good things, can be very
harmful, not just to our bodies,
but to our minds and hearts
as well.

She was right to tell you so.
Over doing things can be harmful.
It can tempt us into being sloppy,
careless, and to loose our ability
to have discipline, which in turn,
weakens us and eats away
at our strength of body
and mind. Even discipline,
which is a good thing, because
it helps us focus and stay strong,
if over done, can become
abusive and very harmful.

That’s an awful lot
to think about. This learning
stuff isn’t easy, like I thought
it was.

(Smiling) No it isn’t. Remember
how you asked me how you can
know if the answers are right
or wrong for you? What we are
talking about, right now,
is a big part of the answer.
It is also a big part of what
the little white flower means.

Oh?

Yes, but now it is time
for you to get ready
for school.

Okay. But Mama?
The apple pie was really
good. I wanted to gobble
it all down, but I didn’t.
It was really hard to eat
it slow, one good bite
at a time.

Yes, I agree. Wanted to gobble
it, myself. It was very good.
Discipline, just like learning,
is never easy.

 Elizabeth Crawford  4/8/15

Notes: I was struggling with how to introduce the whole issue of the meaning of the little white flower. And until I actually got here, this morning, still wasn’t sure just how to do that. Then suddenly remembered something that happened many years ago. A friend, another mother, called me one morning, and told me she’d given her family warmed pumpkin pie for breakfast. She’d been expecting company, so had taken out two pies, instead of the usual one, but the company failed to arrive. She didn’t want to waste all that good pumpkin, or the work she’d done to make it. I laughed, but we went on to have a similar conversation to the one written here. That, in turn, had me learning how to make quiche (there are so many different ingredients you can put into it). So, very often, we would have quiche for Sunday dinner. Because it comes in a pie crust, my kids thought it was a treat, and weren’t aware of just how many fresh vegetables from the garden they were getting. Learning comes in so many different forms, as do teachers.