Keen Observer

In the mid 1930s, living in the isolated hamlet of Oasis, Missouri, southwestern Taney County, Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey wrote:

I stick smart weed and beggar lice

In with my bouquet

And then I smile

When my friends say,

"How beautiful, how delicate!

What can these blossoms be?"

Mary Elizabeth knew very well what these blossoms were and I do, too. They are the common plants most people avoid  along woody paths. Mary Elizabeth was different. I’m proud to be like her—a keen observer of both nature and people.  Smart weed and beggar’s lice make a pretty bouquet when sticking out of a pretty vase.

"O yes," I say, "O yes,

But it takes one just like me

To show you all

That common things

Have beauty, charm, and grace,

But not until you see them Stuck in a crystal vase."

Mary E. Mahnkey