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Meadow Saffron

In the tiny meadow, the summer plants are drying in the mellowing sun, their colours softening to pale hues. A goldfinch perches on a fading wildflower. The plant’s stem sways with the almost imperceptible breeze, and gentle bouncing from the bird’s delicate pecking at tiny seeds.

goldfinches flutter,
gathering the final seeds— 
summer’s table set

I notice a fox’s ear, poking through the green undergrowth of the copse at the edge of the meadow. He dozes in the dying embers of the sun.

viridian shade
under dappled sunlit trees—
the fox rests

My skirt brushes the dry grasses, a gentle rustle. The fox stirs, notices me, and slips deeper into the trees. His fur flashes bright orange in the sunlight, then vanishes into deep green ivy shadows.

My eye captures a flick of movement at my feet—and I just avoid treading on a beautiful lilac flower where a bee is busy enjoying its nectar. I crouch down to watch as the bee moves deep within the flower, which I recognise to be the herb Meadow Saffron (colchicum autumnale), a herald of incoming autumn.

delicate trumpets,
purple petals beckoning—
autumn’s saffron song

Lesley Scoble, August 2024

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I wrote my haibun, Meadow Saffron, in response to Frank J. Tassone’s Haibun Monday, A Seasonal Shift, d’Verse Poetry Prompt.

The same day I read the prompt, I strolled into our local wildlife garden. I saw the fox as described in the haibun—and almost stepped on the meadow saffron. I watched the bee for ages, delving in and out of the gorgeous little flowers.

Thank you, Frank, for your inspirational prompt—and thank you, Melissa!

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Botanical Notes

The Colchicum autumnale’s common names are meadow saffron, naked boys of naked ladies, or autumn crocus. Despite names that imply the flower is a crocus, it is not. All parts are highly poisonous.

Foragers may mistake the leaves to be garlic, or that it provides saffron. (Saffron comes from the Crocus sativus, which also holds the common name of autumn crocus). 

The leaves come after the flowers in the following spring.
The photo below shows the meadow saffron’s leaves in the Barbers’ Company Physic Garden, City of London.

The corms of the plant contain colchicine, a drug useful for the treatment of gout.

The Physic garden is a peaceful place to sit. I enjoy studying the collection of herbs that the surgeon, John Gerard, mentioned in 1597. 

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Lesley lives in the City of London Square Mile. An artist, actor and sculptor (her first ceramic sculpture won the V&A inspired by… Award). Scenic artist & book illustrator, playwright (her musical play, Rapscallion performed in inner city schools and theatre school); TV dancer; Animator and illustrator for TV production. Set up Pinecone Studios Ltd and IIMSI Ltd drama and filmmaking workshops in London – producing award-winning films made by children.