Photo: Na’ama Yehuda
I will paddle into sunlight
Where the ocean
Kisses sky,
Where the sailboats’
Neat triangles
Patch the blue
With bits of pie.
For Nancy Merrill’s Photo A Week Challenge
Sailed Horizon
Mediterranean
Flower of First Rain
Photo: Amitai Asif
It emerges in fall
Flowers preceding leaves
To mark the last
Breath of summer
And the bounty that winter
Will soon retrieve.
Colchicum stevenii grows in the Mediterranean region and throughout Israel, blooming between October and December. Its name in Hebrew “Sitvanit Ha’Yore” literally means “Fall flower of first rains.” Flowers range from 1-2 inches (2-5 centimeters), with petals shaped from straight ruler-like petals to egg-like. Petals’ hues can be lilac or pink to almost white. The bulb contain colchicine, a toxic/poisonous material that is used in medicine to treat arterial diseases and gout.
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Sea Squill Sentry
Sea Squill ; Photo: Atara Katz
Standing sentry ‘afore
Greenery finds a path
It heralds end of summer
As dry days’
Aftermath.
Rising tall
It dares bloom
When most others will not,
Drawing water with roots
That reach deeper
Than most.
Fun facts: The Sea Squill (Urginea Maritimia) has large bulbs that average 8 inches (20 centimeters) across, and strong roots that reach depths of 14 feet (4 meters) below ground, and can snake their way into narrow cracks in rocks, widening the cracks and ‘hueing’ through the rock to get to moisture. The roots are so difficult to dislodge that ancient farmers would plant rows of Sea Squill at the edges of their fields and those were considered a permanent boundary marker. The flowering spears of the plant reach up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) in height and carry 200-300 flowers. Many parts of the plant are poisonous but the bulb also holds medicinal qualities similar to digoxin.
Na'ama Yehuda 
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