睡蓮たち Lotus Flowers

睡蓮たち

コロナ禍のため家に閉じこもっていては運動不足になるから、時々、午後四時ごろに公園に散歩に出かけていた。公園には大きな池があり真ん中に噴水がある。

六月初旬、池に行ったところ、睡蓮が池一面に群生していた。しかし、花が全部閉じていていた。数日後また行ったが、また閉じていた。その後三回ほど行ったがいつも閉じている。

　ある日、池で魚釣りをしていた少年に「花がいつも閉じているけど」と話すと、「午前中は開いてますよ」という。

　翌日、珍しく朝から晴れており、池に出かけた。池に行くと何百もの白い睡蓮が咲いていた。

　ネットで調べると「睡」は「眠る」という意味だそうだ。そうか、睡蓮たちは私が行くころは眠っていたのか。

 

Lotus Flowers

It would be bad for your health staying home all day on account of the coronavirus. So, I made it a rule to take a walk to a neighboring large pond around 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

   When I walked to the pond in the middle of June, I found a lot of lotus flowers on its surface, but all of them were closed. I went there a few days later, but saw only their buds. I walked to the pond three more times, but every time I was disappointed to see that every flower was closed.

   One day, I said to a boy fishing in the pond, “The lotus flowers are always closed, aren’t they?”

   “They are open in the morning,” he replied.

   The next morning, the sky was clear and sunny, unlike during the rainy season. I hurried to the pond expecting to see the flowers. Then, I saw hundreds of blooming white lotus flowers.

   I studied about “sui-ren” (lotus flowers in Japanese) in the Internet. I found that ‘sui’ meant ‘sleep,’ and ‘ren’ meant ‘flower.’ That’s why they were sleeping.