Nasturtiums

Set among a rocky path

I saw a valley of nasturtiums.

My water lilies of the land.

Abundant everywhere the eye could see,

through out this dusty northern California town.

This is the land of wide-open spaces.

This is the long walks in the shade of a redwood forest.

This is the land I’d known as a soft place to fall

So many years ago.

Traveling backward toward the sun

I’ve found a familiar flower.

One that I’ve never tasted before.

I place it in my mouth and savor the peppery flavor

as the land of the orange blossom

welcomes me home

once again.

Week 23. Paths.

Nasturtiums look like such festive flowers, so bright and full of hope. I’d seen these flowers many times but I’d never eaten them. At a dinner party last week while visiting San Francisco I was given a nasturtium to taste for the first time. I was surrounded by new people and new experiences. I began to think about think about my life when I lived in San Francisco years ago, who I was then, who I am today and how different my life seems now. I often think that our lives never turn out to be what we plan. Joseph Campbell once said, “We must let go of the lives we have planned in order to live the lives we are destined”. The life we are destined may have so many unexpected turns; the flavors we taste may be sweet, sour, salty even bitter. This makes me think that being open to tasting all the flavors is the only way to know the path your destined.