Waking the lane I came across a blue purple five-leafed flower in a cleft so lonely and stony.
Slowly from March through to May subtly changing from deep red.
The delicate flower favouring a home, lane banked fresh and shady.
Common Lungwort Pulmonaria Officinalis, the book said.
But why Pulmonaria, Latin for lung, if you’re oh so clever.
Why lung, this tiny plant used since the Middle Ages to cure coughs and chest diseases.
Well I thought, it’s strange how things so natural can come in so useful, never say never.
After all we hear a lot today of horrible coughs and sneezes.
But why it’s other names, Mary’s tears, Our Lady’s Milk Drops.
Named by Carl Linnaeus after the doctrine of signatures.
The Christian doctor’s belief that a plant looking like a body part could be used as cure mops.
Their belief that God put in plants to guide mankind, medical signatures.
I pass on my way, not tasting a drop of her tears, back to a house lardered with modern pills.
Is Mary crying for us, I ask? Who knows if this medieval thought is any use for life’s ills.