A small delicate yellow flower has emerged from the half wine barrel I keep by my front door. It only manages to stay half full of water the entire time, but supports a healthy assortment of mosses, lilies and grasses in it.. I know there's fish in there also, I see them occasionally.
But the joy of this season has been the quiet personal delight I have had every morning when I leave, to find the native lily I planted, flowering. My own personal Christmas lily. Almost like daffodils in pots on your windowsill.
The stem that thrusts up, has many buds upon it, but only one flowers at a time. It is a small flower hardly 5cm across, that seems to last barely a day, and it's petals have fine 'feathers' which make it even more beautiful against the green leaves that float on the brackish water.
A quiet joy that makes my heart sing, and I catch myself pausing and internally smiling as I pass it.
I hope that some insect or bee catches the pollen from my lily, and that this flower achieves it's purpose. I'd like to think I've helped to make more of this plant.. even if it's just by leaving it alone, and occasionally topping up the water in the wine barrel.