The fairy lilies are blooming in South Carolina. They do this on their own, with no humans tending, attending, or superintending.

     Graceful and white they flower, out in the wild, wild woods. In different parts of the South this delicate beauty goes by other names, including “Easter Lily,” “Rain Lily,” and the old Native American name, “Atamasca.”

     Sometimes, just to be ornery, a thistle will grow up beside the lily. Thistles, as you know, are the ogres of the plant world, prickly, intrusive, unwanted.

     When I see the two of them growing side by side it reminds me of Beauty and The Beast. It also recalls something very astute that my mother-in-law, Adele, once told me. “A weed,” she said, “is a plant that’s growing in the wrong place.”

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Is it naïve to be talking about wildflowers when the human race is paralyzed with fear? Is there a Sovereign, more mighty than the Dow, who will love us through the storm?