Nunca Te Rindas

Gold cherry

By Ed Crane

Tue, 15 Aug 2023
  • 2283 reads
17 comments
 

I welcome your gift of hope every day

my nameless friend.

Silently trumpeting each daily dawn

in colours of Kings and Bishops.

Cleopatra’s favourite hue

to mourn your own loss.

 

The dry desiccating desert wind

strips you naked by dusk,

but under the black star-filled sky

your courage performs its magic.

New blooms greet the rising Sun.

 

I do not know your name

my faithful Spanish friend

and when I leave this desert isle

you will whisper in my ear,

"No me olvides"

 

And I will not forget you.

Instead I’ll honour you

with the name you deserve:

Nunca Te Rindas.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phacelia_campanularia

Certificate U
Poem
Nature

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

What a beautiful tribute to this flower.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Ed Crane on

I managed to find a photo of the flowers taken in Lanzarote in 2008 just before we moved back to mainland Europe. 

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

What a beautiful little flower Ed - I'd never heard of it before. I have phacelias in my garden (thanks to a recommendation from di_hard) and campanulas, but none like yours! Thank you for this lovely poem

 

Submitted by Ed Crane on

I found a photo of the actual flowers that just kept coming every day on our terrace in Lanz. taken in 2008 a few months before we left the island. 

Fond memories 

 

 

Submitted by Ed Crane on

 

 

Submitted by onemorething on

This is very lovely and such a fitting metaphor for resilience and hope. It's our Pick of the Day. Do share on Facebook and Twitter. 

 

Submitted by Ed Crane on

I wasn't expecting that!  

thanks again.

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

Very well deserved golden cherries - congratulations Ed!

 

Submitted by Ed Crane on

I've been thinking about my time in the Canaries these days. Good place to live. A mini-continent the locals call the island group because every island is different.

 

Submitted by celticman on

honoured indeed, Ed. 

 

Submitted by Ed Crane on

yes

An honour I was not expecting :)

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

It's a beautiful trubute to a beautiful flower Ed. You could never get bored of such a powerful colour. There are some plants that never seem to give up, often the ones you don't fuss over. Never give up, a positive token from the terrace.

Is it Tibouchina granulosa?

 

Submitted by Ed Crane on

We bought it in a garden centre on Lanzarote. It was well suited to the desert climate there. I just kept going it lost its flowers every day in the sun, but next morning bore buds opened.

I'm not sure what species it is. I thought it was a Phalecia, like the Desert Blurbell but it seems slightly different, maybe a cultured version. I looked up Tibouchina and they do look similar but the floweres are a little different.

 

 

Submitted by Turlough on

You know a flower has made an impact on your life when you name it yourself.

Your words really do give the feeling that you're talking to a friend. A lovely poem.

Turlough

Submitted by Ed Crane on

It certainly impressed me by its determination to keep flowering. Sadly we had to move away from the Canaries in 2010 but I still remember those beautiful little flowers and how the gave us new blooms every morning.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

I was in Tenerife a couple of times but sadly not the other islands. I went two consecutive Christmases about twenty years ago. In Playa Arena and Garachico in the quiet north west it was beautiful. All those volcanic formations, the huge Atlantic waves and the fresh fish with crusty Canarian potatoes and mojo picon. New Year celebrations in the square in Los Gigantes went on all night. It was one of the best New Year parties I've ever known. I sort of fell in love with the place myself. 

They cancelled our boat trip to see the whales and dolphins because it was raining a bit. I had never imagined whales and dolphins being averse to wet weather. But that's not why I never went back.

Turlough

Submitted by Ed Crane on

when I did it was to pick up an international flight. I once took a bus from the local airport (site of the worst aircrash in history) to the newer international airport. 

I spent most time in the centre of Las Palmas GC. (almost no tourists there) and later we moved to Lanzarote to be away from crowded LPGC. I have to admit I liked Las Palmas even though it is very busy. We saw most of the island but spent little time in tourist areas like Las Palomas. 

Lanz was a bit more touristy, but we spent a lot of time off the tourist track in places like Haria in the North

Saw a lot of Fuerterventura and had a great time on an out of the way beach village on the South Western tip of the island gloriously basic! Unfortunately nevet got a chance to visit Palma, Gomera or Hierro. I would like to go back but I'm getting on now. The only reason we left the Canaries was due to ill health.

residents of the Canaries get real cheap subsidised air fares to the other island and the Iberian penninsular (at least they did when I was there)