A Wild Gift

Jack-in-the-Pulpit
(also called Bog Onion, Brown Dragon, Indian Turnip)
(Arisaema triphyllum)

April and May are intervals replete with fabulous firsts in the woodland: Bloodroot, Dutchman's Breeches, Spring Beauty, Hepatica, various violets and trilliums tucked into sunny slopes and rock formations, songbirds warbling above the creek, loons flying overhead and calling greetings as they pass. Later there will be hillsides of columbines, fields filled with nodding daisies and waving plumes of clover, orchid spiced bogs and lake shallows graced by generations of stately herons.

The grandeur and largesse are almost too much to take in at times, and I have to remind myself to check my expectations at the door as I head out for the woods and watery places with camera in hand - the trick is go out with open eyes and alert senses, truly present in the wild moment and not looking for anything at all, but wholly receptive to what the Old Wild Mother and the day hold out as gifts and teachings.

A few days ago, the gift was a tiny Jack-in-the-Pulpit down by the creek, its delicate stalk as slender and silky as embroidery thread. There are abundant wild leeks and toothworts on the bank and cress growing right in the water, but never before had there been a Jack growing in that particular spot, and I was delighted. If I had just been stomping along and not paying attention, I might have walked on it, and that would have been sad.