Trilliums!

I saw my first trillium today.

Driving down the highway towards home, I took my eyes off the road. I’ve been doing so since the beginning of the month because this is when the trilliums come.

And today, I saw my first trillium.

It filled my heart with joy, to see it there nestled among the ferns in the forest bordering the highway. Where there is one, more will come.

My mid wandered, thinking about the Flower Fairy books by Cicely Mary Barker that my grandmother gave us. Did you ever read these? Here is a sample.

To my knowledge, Cicely Mary Barker never wrote a poem about trilliums. Inspired by CMB  and the trillium I saw today, I wrote one

The Song of the Trillium Fairy

The road is wide, its banks are steep,
Where Douglas firs reach high;
And gently through the ferns I creep,
‘Neath Oregon’s grey sky.

The people in the cars below
Look up and see me there,
Where shyly my three petals show
That Spring is in the air.

Trilliums SOLSC 16

I believe I saw a trillium today. I’m not 100% sure. There was a small flash of white on the right side of the road, in an area where trilliums come up every Spring. I was going 50 mph but I took the time to turn my head and look. Safely, of course. And I’m pretty sure the first trillium is truly there.

Growing up, the trillium was the flower of Ontario, the Canadian province where I lived. We were told that picking one was illegal, but I never saw one in the wild, so was never tempted.

In my previous house in Portland, trilliums grew on the shady side of my house. I didn’t know that when I bought the house, but felt it was a sign I was meant to live there. The beliefs of my youth kept me from picking them, but sometimes I’d walk over there, just to admire them. I was content to know they were there.

So now, I spend my Springs, zooming down the Sunset Highway from Beaverton to Portland. looking for trilliums, harbingers of Spring.