The Sunflower's Song

September is usually the month in which farmers harvest their sunflower crops. Greece produces quite a lot of sunflower oil, and I think that anyone who has seen those magnificent fields of golden sunflowers turning black before harvest time will relate to the following poem written by my mother.           

The Sunflower's Song

The earth caressed me, and gave me force

To grow upwards and to find the source

Of light, and bursting through the warming soil,

I found the sun, and so began my life.

First my back grew tall and strong,

And green with leaves that opened up,

To help me stand and turn about

So I could move my glowing head

To follow on that fiery sun

From dawn till dusk across the sky,

So with my brothers tall and strong

We made a dazzling countryside.

And then one day I felt so frail,

My neck was weak, my head bent down,

I could not turn – Oh! Where’s the warmth?

I’m falling forwards to the ground.

I know that all my beauty’s Past,

My golden face is blacking fast,

And then we hear the awful sound,

A shuddering noise that shakes the ground,

And then I know the end is near,

But suddenly I cease to fear,

For then I know that I’m not dead

From my sad and darkened head,

Will spring to life a host of seeds

Though some be killed and turned to oil,

Some will tumble on the soil,

To flower again, a golden sight,

That turns sad darkness into light.

Prudence Chandler, 2011