Autobiography Of A Daffodil

Autobiography Of A Daffodil

It was cold in the night, by the river bed, under water. A small daffodil lay among the shrubs fully submerged. The ambience was quite except for the occasional sounds of river bugs flowing hither and thither. In its madly flight, one of the river bugs got smitten in the daffodil, who was breathing heavily. To the bug’s surprise the daffodil raised its petal and said : hi there!

Soon they were chitchatting with the bug describing all about bug life and daffodil breathing heavily with occasional nods to show he was listening. The river bug asked daffodil, how he came to be under water as probably he was the only daffodil the river bug had ever seen. The daffodil smiled, raised himself against the bush to sit upright and with heavy sound started telling the story of his life.

“It must have been today morning”, the daffodil said deliriously, “yes it was today morning, when I first woke up from a deep slumber. I don’t remember exactly long was it before I opened my eyes, but since I don’t remember about it, it must have been quite long indeed.”

“It was still quite dark when I first opened my petals. The gush of cold wind tossed me from side to side and I could hear other daffodils greeting each other and celebrating the newly found existence. The dew drops glided smoothly down my petals, causing me the tingling sensation and I could not contain laughing over and over.”

“Soon after the horizon was imperceptibly lighted with pink gloss, interrupted by streaks and blotches of gray clouds. And what a pleasure it was to first find out my color. It was bright yellow with the slight green lining along the edges of petals and the center hub offshooting green strands with pollen grains attached to their ends.”

“Me and the fellow daffodils, around a thousand as I found out later, were perched on an elevated flower bed surrounded by green shrubs. At the periphery of green shrubs, there were red and pink flowers with thorny stems. As I could imagine in the my minds eye, the whole flower bed must have been a splendid sight to watch from a distance.”

“With the fresh morning air giving me a sprightly dance, I could see a lot more around. At the far end was a small brook, making a constant sound of flowing water. Two tall overbearing trees stood at the edge of the river, with some of their lower branches touching water and flowing from side to side with the brook. Occasionally a leave would jump from the tree and be carried away with the brook, far and distant. How I wish I could travel the same, visiting different countries I think. “

“After a few hours, I could see scores of people entering the garden, laughing, joking, smiling and talking. One of the family with a small kid came straight to the treasure trove of daffodils and thumped themselves against the grass bed. The small child must have been around four years old or slightly older. And sure he was very naughty, for he would hit his parents with a small stick and run away along the shrubs, expecting his parents to run after and catch and he would do that over and over, everytime making a shrill laughter.”

“After a few hours, when the family were tired of child’s antics they started to have their lunch. The mother fed the child with her hands with the child poking his hand occasionally in the bag of cookies which the mother kept pulling away. Finally she relented and the child voraciously devoured all the cookies. What a gourmand the little chubby rotund cherub he was!”, the daffodil said with a sigh with a divine smile of content on his face

“ As the sun drew at the middle of sky, it became a lot more hot. I could see hardly visible fumes of water flowing out from my petals to keep them cool. I was getting dried! and tired. The family too grew tired and soon slipped into a daytime slumber interrupted occasionally by slight insects hopping against their faces.”

“ Close to the mid day, when sun was at three quarters of its way across the sky, I saw a fat old man with sharp garden blades walking along the bushes and trimming leaves and grass. He must have been the gardener. Soon he was close to the daffodils.”

“Suddenly a pandemonium broke loose among daffodils. I could hear the screeching and crying all around me. As the blades skirmished back and forth I could see a bunch of daffodils falling to the ground with their stems. It was not long before my stem was cut down too.”

“ As the blades cut through my stem, I felt a piercing sensation. My eyes blurred, my head became dizzy and with abject helplessness I fell flat with my petals on to the muddy ground with a thump. This was the end of it, I thought.”

“But I was far too lucky to whisk away my life so uneventfully. While the gardener picked and carried away the fallen daffodils, I was picked up by the small toddler. The smile on his face when he tottered and proudly displayed his serendipitous find to his parents was worth all the pain I endured.”

“The kid began his antics of hitting his parents with my stem and running away in haste along the grooves. In his playful mood he did not even realize when did he drop me in the brook while running by its sides.”

“As they say, you must be careful what you pray for, for your wish might be granted! And here I was, flowing along the river. Although my life air and my vitality had started to diminish I still enjoyed the flight as I crossed through the garden to woods. My petals were laden with water, though it was of little use as I was no more connected to my roots. Slowly and silently I started submerging in water and after many a whirling motions I stuck the river bed, here.”

The daffodil opened his drowsy eyes to look at the water bug, though to his surprise he did not find anyone around. Then with a slight smirk on his face the daffodil closed his eyes back, dreaming that he was again with the little toddler enjoying his tottering movements and his shrill laughs….