LadyD Books: Winter Paper Whites: Rainer Maria Rilke

A happy patch of Paper Whites in Winter.

Flowers for Saturday

These clustered flowers, springing up in my front yard are powerfully fragrant and last for quite awhile indoors.

I often reflect on the purity of the color, along with the sweet smell of this flower and focus on being 'other-centered' (instead of its original meaning of self centered).

Have you found a new, refreshing release within, knowing that it truly is a blessing to give to others? Tell me about it and please, dear women, stay away from those narcissistic men!

“If a man finds himself with bread in both hands, he should exchange one loaf for some flowers of the narcissus, because the loaf feeds the body, but the the flowers feed the soul”

-- Muhammed

Free Stock Image - Early-blooming Narcissus

© Photographer Jakezc | Agency: Dreamstime.com
http://www.dreamstime.com

Quote It Saturday

"Encircled by her arms as by a shell,
she hears her being murmur,
while forever he endures
the outrage of his too pure image...

Wistfully following their example,
nature re-enters herself;
contemplating its own sap, the flower
becomes too soft, and the boulder hardens...

It's the return of all desire that enters
toward all life embracing itself from afar...
Where does it fall? Under the dwindling
surface, does it hope to renew a center?"

-- Rainer Maria Rilke

© Photographer Barbara Van De Velde | Agency: Dreamstime.com
Free Stock Images

Narcissus is a category of mainly hardy, mostly spring-flowering, bulbs in the Amaryllis family, native to Europe, North Africa, and Asia. There are also several Narcissus species that bloom in the autumn. For more information, visit Wikipedia.org

“Narcissus does not fall in love with his reflection because it is beautiful, but because it is his. If it were his beauty that enthralled him, he would be set free in a few years by its fading.”

-- W.H. Auden

The word Narcissus is derived from the Greek word narke, meaning numbness or stupor. To learn more about this and facts where Narcissus grow best, stop by The Flower Expert.

There are two derivations of the name. One is that of the youth of Greek mythology called Narcissus, who, in at least one of many variations of the tale, became so obsessed with his own reflection as he kneeled and gazed into a pool of water that he fell into the water and drowned. In some variations, he died of starvation and thirst from just sitting by the edge of the pool until he gave out, gazing at his reflection until he died. In both versions, the Narcissus plant first sprang from where he died.

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/narcissus#ixzz1ijWRYytb

“Narcissus so himself himself forsook,

And died to kiss his shadow in the brook.”
-- William Shakespeare

John Williams Waterhouse: Narcissus -1912

"Narcissus is another example among several of a beautiful young man who spurned sex and died as a result. As such, his myth has much in common with those of Adonis and Hippolytus. In the Roman poet Ovid's retelling of the myth, Narcissus is the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. Tiresias, the seer, told his parents that the child "would live to an old age if it did not look at itself." Many nymphs and girls fell in love with him but he rejected them. One of these nymphs, Echo, was so distraught over this rejection that she withdrew into a lonely spot and faded until all that was left was a plaintive whisper. The goddess Nemesis heard the rejected girls prayers for vengeance and arranged for Narcissus to fall in love with his own reflection. He stayed watching his reflection and let himself die. It is quite possible, however, that the connection between Echo and Narcissus was entirely Ovid's own invention, for there is no earlier witness to it.
An important and earlier variation of this tale originates in the region in Greek known as Boeotia (to the north and west of Athens). Narcissus lived in the city of Thespiae. A young man, Ameinias, was in love with Narcissus, but he rejected Ameinias' love. He grew tired of Ameinias' affections and sent him a present of a sword. Ameinias killed himself with the sword in front of Narcissus' door and as he died, he called curses upon Narcissus. One day Narcissus fell in love with his own reflection in a spring and, in desperation, killed himself.
Both of these stories give an origin to the narcissus flower, which grew where Narcissus died." Encyclopedia Mythica

Narcissus stationary can be found here, Free Download

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