by L.J. Bosela
Dandelions are a generally misunderstood flower. I think that is why I like them. Amah told me once, when I was just a child, that I was like a dandelion- brightly golden, in laughter and in countenance, set amidst a dark and solemn family, and like a dandelion, I was indefatigable in my tenacity at life.
She didn’t mean it as a compliment. I knew that.
But I took it as one.
Growing up, children all love dandelions. It is only when your soul grows old and tired – tired of the drudgery we humans are so apt to turn our life into – that you see dandelions as a weed, to be eradicated, to be hated. When your soul is old, you forget the wisdom that every child knows.
Children know that dandelions hold a thousand, thousand wishes.
That’s how I feel like a dandelion – I have a thousand, thousand wishes, and they are all going to one day blow far away on a wayward breeze and fall forgotten somewhere. I must believe, I must hope, that at least one of those wishes will cause another dandelion to grow.
But I have just this one wish to tell you now. I wish that when I die, one person in all this world will remember me with kindness.
And now…
… now comes the wind.
Remember me, and carry my wishes to all the world, all ten thousand fold.
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About the Author: L.J. Bosela was raised in Sterling on the Kenai Peninsula. She writes mostly fiction, with a special interest in fantasy in the style of Tolkien, Lewis, and McKillip. Outside of writing, she also enjoys reading, drinking tea, listening to classical and folk music, and spending time walking through woods, bookstores, and antique shops.
2 Comments
Ian McDermod
This was a very beautiful piece. Reminds me of summers picking dandelions out in grassy fields and finding the ones that would blow away into the wind. I think you captured a very important aspect of childhood innoncence and were able to directly connect it to your love of life now as an adult.
Kayln Notti
The way you were able to capture a child’s innocence and the way you took something as a compliment, even though it wasn’t intended as one, was phenomenal. Reading this reminded me the way Katniss Everdeen describes Peeta Mellark in the trilogy. She describes him as “The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.” I loved this piece!