BY THE WAY
You
are right to point out that the agapanthus
is
not a lily, especially to one who so loves
precision,
but the agapanthus is also called
"Lily
of the Nile," which surely could be seen
as
justification for calling it a lily.
I
am sure Cleopatra herself never called
this
plant agapanthus. And, well, wouldn't one
want
to be more like Cleopatra than like
Theophrastus?
The Queen of the Nile
would
have likely called it a lily, no?
Yes,
yes, words have meaning and have power
and
all of that stuff. Yes, yes, I of all people
understand
the importance of naming.
But
if Cleopatra would have called it a lily . . .
Okay,
I will stop. You look great, by the way.
But
I just want to point out that the agapanthus
is
such an odd plant that even botanists
cannot
agree on the number of species in the genus,
some
saying six, others as many as ten.
Okay,
I swear I'll stop. Seriously. Promise.
The
windy night air is cold, and the wings
bound
along my spine sweaty and bruised,
the
long bandages chafing my armpits. Words
have
power, my love. You call this winged thing
an
angel, but that is not the word I would use for it.
~ C. DALE YOUNG, 1969 -
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