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Anemone
Anémone - الأَنِيمُون
Description
This small perennial flower famous for its vibrant hues originates from the Mediterranean region where it blankets entire fields come spring. Also known as windflowers, their Greek name anemos, translates to "daughter of the wind". According to Ovid's Metamorphoses, the flower was created by Venus goddess as she wept over her slain lover, Adonis killed by a wild boar. Crimson anemones immediately sprouted from the soil where her tears and the blood of her lover mixed. Since then, the flower is a symbol of unfading love and grief. It is the association with the mythological figure of Adonis, whose cult was important in Lebanon in ancient times - that Corm refers to in his poem.
Poem
The Anemone
Nothing illustrates the brilliance of heroes and gods
Like nature’s hand.
The attempts of poets to laud their statures are vain;
The anemone does so much better.
It is the first flower each year to break
The dark vaults of a dreary winter;
Marking the advent of April with Adonis’ symbolic red blood,
It colours the ground entirely!
There are so many lovers buried,
Beneath your dust, beautiful Lebanon,
That seeing you covered in fleeting anemones,
I cannot help but weep!…
Published in La Montagne Parfumée.
Éditions de la Revue Phénicienne, 2004.
