Beauty in unexpected places….

I was thinking about my 3-month fieldwork on a locked ward..acute geriatric psychiatric…and how one day, a single daffodil appeared, that a daughter had picked for her mother…that single flower sat in a water glass for days… and on a unit like that, its beauty was so much more…synergistic I guess, than it would be anywhere els. The start of a poem popped into my head at like 3am last night and then I just wrote it up in a few minutes so NO HATING, I ain’t no Wordsworth. Now I’m going to go try and figure out my new Macbook and try to wake up. It’s been a rough couple of days!!

The Solitary Daffodil

Inside a locked ward
there are no pleasantries
Days march grimly on
survival the only goal

The mutters of the schizophrenics
the howls of the psychotics
the sobs of the demented
will drown your ears
in a cacaphony of sorrow

Senses are assaulted
the salty taste of fear
the tinny scent of sweat
the scurrying nurses

Everywhere you look
is cold, industrial
fluorescent lights
concrete
impersonality

One day there is
a floral miracle.
A singular daffodil
trembling shyly
leaning against its water glass cage

A priceless gift
carefully picked
offered in peace
by an enterprising young visitor

It is the first sign of life
that many have seen in days
weeks
or months
a glorious gesture

This solitary daffodil
timidly luminous
a beacon of hope
is for many
the spring of healing

*daffodil from google, not me