Can you imagine? I found the first violets when I walked up the hills!
They were almost invisible (I helped one out from under the leaves) - real messagers of spring!
These were dog violets (viola canine) - so they do not smell - but though I am very keen on the fragrance of flowers, this time I had nothing to nag but was just happy.
Of course I didn't pick them - because though the weather is really cold I saw the first courageous bees - and they will need all the nectar they can find.
I don't know whether they are still in fashion, but as pupils we had in Germany friendship books, we called them "Poesiealbum" - one wrote a more (or less) wise saying into it, and painted or pasted a glittering picture beside it.
Very popular was this one:
"Be like the little violet in the moss, modest, demure and pure/ and not like the proud rose/ which always wants to be adored!"
(Well - I like roses :-)
And I suspect that the anonymous poet didn't know much about botany: the violet is a very doggedly plant, with a high urge to to spread itself out. Yes, they occupied almost the whole world, both hemispheres.
And I always think of C.G.Jung and his theory of "the Shadow", when I look at all those people striving for power or world domination - whose favourite flower was the modest violet: Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, Winston Churchill.
And many others.
