The creative Writing group set themselves a tough challenge when the word melliferous (or mellifluos) which means honey bearing was picked out as the word for the latest period. Here are 3 examples of pieces the group produced.
An Afternoon In The Sun
Sandy poured herself a large glass of Muscadet and strolled out into her garden. “Hello George,” she said, as she strolled towards the edge of the lawn where George was growing tall and strong. A warm breeze caused George’s pine leaves to quiver, it was as if the tree were replying to her greeting. “You make the air smell beautiful George, thank you.”
Sandy turned back and made her way to the lounger, and placing the glass of wine carefully onto a small metal table, stretched out and bathed in the warm glow of the Sun. She’d had a hectic and somewhat fraught morning. Mr Arthur Jameson had clearly exerted considerable pressure on each member of the committee, to vote against her proposal, to develop the land, into parkland, rather than a supermarket. Sandy pointed out at length that in a recent survey, the residents had overwhelmingly preferred a parkland development to that of building a new supermarket. Jameson however, had clearly persuaded the committee that the provision of jobs was far more important. She could not deny that providing jobs was indeed important, but so was access to green spaces. She argued that work life balance was also an essential, and that a green parkland would give the local families the opportunity to relax and enjoy the pleasures that a green space could offer.
Her thoughts played back to the meeting. Jameson had spoken with strength and gusto, whilst she had tried to gain the committees approval with a soft, gentle reasonable approach. “That is where I went wrong,” she said to herself.
“I must have sounded like a real wimp. What I need to do now, is to give as good as I get. I will not give in.”
Feeling more self-assured, she took another drink of wine, found pen and pencil, and listed as many positive points as she could. With the job done, she stretched out on the lounger again and breathed in the pine scented air.
From a clear blue sky, a blackbird landed gracefully onto one of George’s branches and began to sing. Its song was melodious and its voice mellifluous. Minutes later the blackbird took to the wing. “Thank you,” shouted Sandy, “Your song was heavenly. But tomorrow, when I go back into the committee room, I’m going to give them fire and brimstone. The residents will get their wish, and I’m the one who will give it to them.” Sandy got to her feet and strode purposefully towards the kitchen. She paused, and smiled, “I think another bottle of Muscadet is called for... Tomorrow, I give battle.”
Ann D
Melliferous (Honey Bearing) by Ruth
A low mist lingers over the ancient meadow
the suns first rays tenderly caress the thin silvery blanket
and catch the dew laden grasses that glisten like diamonds.
Somewhere in the hedgerow a blackbird breaks the silence
His clear melodic song awakens the world.
Gradually the haze lifts to reveal a tapestry of colour
as the wildflowers lift their heads and greet another lazy day.
A gentle breeze drifts through the pasture,
Grasses sway smoothly, rhythmically
and the delicate feathery cow parsley joins the dance.
Golden buttercups and nodding cowslips,
smiling daises, lilac blue scabious and
rosy clusters of ball shaped clover are all overseen
by Meadowsweet, the Queen of the Meadow,
with her tall fragrant frothy cream flower clusters.
As the day warms the air hums with life
Butterflies drift from flower to flower, crane flies hover and occasionally a grasshopper chirrups
Bees move low and with purpose collecting the shining threads of nectar that will later become honey
A gift from the gods, a soothing balm, a symbol of hope.
Time is suspended and yet utterly present in this time honoured place.
School's Out by Barbara
It was the last day of the school term and as Daisy boarded the bus for the short journey across town she lapsed into daydreaming about the upcoming holidays.
No more boring school or listening to teachers droning on about subjects she had absolutely no interest in.
Her mind took her off to the wild moors near her grandparent’s house where she spent most of her holidays. Her parents would join them when their busy work schedule allowed, but Daisy didn’t mind this as she loved to stay with her beloved grandparents. Grandad was a botanist and her grandmother a well-known herbalist and it was here that she felt most at home. They were both early risers and at breakfast time each day Daisy was keen to listen to her grandfather talking about rare plants and the beauty of nature. Perhaps because she was named after a flower, she had an affinity with the natural world. He always told her it was gift to be interested in the outdoors and only special people could see and appreciate the mysteries which seemed to pass by most other folk.
From a very early age she absorbed his teachings and watched in awe as he showed her the vast collection of the flora amassed over the years and which were meticulously catalogued and stored on the ground floor of the outdoor cottage in the spinney.
The upper floor of the cottage was her grandmother’s domain. She could perfectly recall the wonderful smell of the herbs and wildflowers which she knew adorned the shelves upstairs whenever she walked through the door.
The increasingly loud chatter of schoolchildren immediately brought her back to the present and she reluctantly slung her bag over her shoulder and made her way off the bus. One last day to get through, she thought to herself. A couple of lessons this morning and then the whole afternoon was to be spent on various end of term sports, which was always good fun.
The first lesson of the day was Latin. A seemingly dead language; how could this be of any use to her in the modern world. At least next term she would be able to choose subject options and this was almost certainly the first one to drop off her curriculum. She had a secret crush, however, on the dishy teacher who somehow managed to keep her focussed throughout the next hour so the jumbled foreign words were just about bearable. She would quite miss gazing dewy eyes at him but never mind, she thought.
After break Daisy went along to the last actual lesson of the day. Combined Sciences awaited and she made her way to the back of the classroom into her usual spot by the window. Her tutor, Miss Robertson, was all of 60 years, almost extinct in Daisy’s world, and of much less interest than Mr Romeo from her earlier lesson.
The window seat held much appeal as it overlooked a small nature garden which she had volunteered to help manage along with other enthusiastic fellow pupils. Her eyes were drawn to a leggy spider busy weaving his threads in the corner of the window. Grandad was right about the magic of the natural world as she watched enthralled by the intricacies of the patterns he created in the silky web.
Miss Robertson’s monotone voice again brought her back with a jolt out of her daydreaming as all of the text books around the room were noisily opened in unison. Realising she’d missed the instructions, Daisy glanced across to the adjoining desk and hurriedly identified the page and chapter for today’s discussion. To be fair to Miss Robertson she did try her best to gain the attention of her pupils, however as it was the last day of term a more light hearted attempt to engage with the class was announced. The subject of today’s tutorial was titled ‘The life and times of the Bumble Bee’. On hearing this diversion from the usual format of chemistry calculations or physics equations Daisy sat upright and listened eagerly to today’s lesson.
Daisy arrived the following day at her holiday bolt hole and couldn’t wait to re-connect with her grandparents.
“Grandad, grandad you’ll never guess what?”
“Slow down, my girl” Grandad quietly said “and come over here and give me a big hug.”
“We can chat in a while, but first try some of Grandma’s new herbal tea mix. She has made it especially for you with some of our wild strawberries and mint”. Daisy hurriedly poured them both a cup of the special brew from Granny’s chubby brown tea pot.
“Now young Daisy, tell me what is it that you were so anxious to talk to me about?”
Daisy told the story of the previous day’s events at school, cautiously leaving out the bit about Mr Romeo of course.
She explained that she’d been given the task in her science lesson of researching the life and times of the bumble bee. “Of course, thanks to you Grandad, I knew everything there was to know about their habits and how useful these tiny creatures are in pollinating plants. I even remembered when you talked about melliferous plants. I wrote pages and pages and Miss Robertson said it was the very best work I’d ever produced! She even suggested that I might consider a career in animal and wildlife conservation as she could see I was so enthusiastic about the subject.”
“Wow, well done Daisy. I knew my ramblings would come in useful one day” remarked Grandad. “Now, what is it about Latin that causes you problems?”
Daisy explained that she couldn’t see what use it would be to her in the future and her Grandad immediately raised his hand and said “Stop right there young lady”
“Do you realise that every plant in our kingdom has a Latin name and it was so very important that I learned all those botanical names to further my own career. And in fact, your word melliferous can be broken down by combining ‘mel’ which means ‘honey, and ‘fer’ which means bearing or carrying. So melliferous actually means flowing with honey and I only know that because of my interest in learning Latin. Now what do you make of that?”
“Yes, of course, you’re right Grandad, I shall have to study my plant names,” said Daisy, absorbing her new prospects deep in thought. Soon, however, a secret smile crept across her face as she realised that the Latin class with Mr Romeo was now high on her agenda!
Lonely As A Cloud by Jo