The Blossoming of a Once Forgotten Nut Tree
Poem by Charnice Hoegnifioh, Classical Civilization and Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, Yale University, Benjamin Franklin, Class of 2024
The Roman poet Ovid wrote the Heroides, a collection of letters written from the personas of several women featured in Greco-Roman mythology. The second letter in this series, Heroides II: Phyllis Demophoonti, is sent from Phyllis to her lover Demophon. Phyllis marries Demophon when he stops on her island; however, he soon leaves to help his father but promises to return to her. According to a version of the myth, Phyllis commits suicide out of grief after realizing that Demophon has abandoned her, and upon her grave an almond or hazelnut tree grows that remains barren. Many years later, Demophon returns to Phyllis only to find the tree, which flowers only at his touch. “the blossoming of a once forgotten nut tree (the plot of love between phyllis & demophon)” is an original poem written by Charnice Hoegnifioh from the perspective of the tree as it contemplates its own life as it blossoms for the first time and reflects upon the memories of a young girl who lived out the rest of her life with her lover always at the front of her mind. This pseudepigraphic retelling of a Classical myth draws inspiration from Heroides II as the value of life is weighed against the burdens of remembering traumatic, neglected love. Carried and nurtured by the spirit of the tree, Phyllis’ story is given voice to once again thousands of years later.
never could i have forgotten you
i could never forget
the memories of You sweeping me off my feet
into Your arms, oh Your arms
neglected my soil
yet They embrace me now
and how i blossom for You,
only for You,
Demophon
why have you come back now?
have you now come back?
oh, how i waited for You,
patient penelope persistently awaiting Your ships,
an ideal wife,
a queen with power over nothing
least of all over Your return
waiting for You, my odysseus,
You surely are a Man of twists and turns
You twisted my heart and turned my insides around
turned Yourself around
too late
far too late for me to do anything
but Bloom
and how i blossom for you!
only for You, Demophon
gently flowering for an unworthy king who chose his root over his seed
i wish i had forgotten you
so many seasons have passed
i do not know how many seasons have passed
i do not know what time of year it is
i do not even know what year it is
i do not know anything at all but
faintly in/from another life there are memories of
how you kissed me in the fall
how you embraced me through it all
can you even recall how you held me above the snow
and then in the spring
how you let me go
can you recall a time from long ago when you made me believe in
whispered promises of nothingness and woe
for this is all i truly know
because you have planted these wounds so
and through the lies i have grown
in spite of the pain you have sown
i could never have forgotten He
how could you possibly have forgotten She
i sprouted into a majestic tree
until you [reverse] deflowered me
and how far does the sweet almond fall from the tree
and how long must i wait until my innocence comes back to me
and how I will bloom for you!
i am filled with the regrets of remembering but
i could have never forgotten
how the filbert yearned for you
tied and bound to the fruits of your laborious past
so distant and yet just within our grasp;
(i never could have forgotten you)
(i wish i had forgotten you)
in remembering you i have forgotten me
as a futile reminder of all we could be
because of you, this is all that remains of me
and because of me, now this is all you can see
and because of us, now I blossom for you
and how she bloomed for you,
How I Blossomed,
only for you,
demophon
rather than for the remnants of a love impossibly
if only i bloom for Me