Poppies

[capt_facepalm]

Title: Poppies
Author: capt_facepalm
Rating: PG
Fandom: Sherlock Holmes (Gaslight ACD), retirement timeline
Characters: Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson
Summary: Poppies are all but spent by July
Warning: (schmoop)
Word Count: 100
Author's Notes: July 8th 2020 prompt: A Floral Bouquet

.oOOo.

They came unbidden in June to the sunny flower bed behind the little Sussex cottage. Sherlock Holmes eyed them with suspicion until the telltale buds formed crimson flowers. If the bees had not been so keen for their pollen, he would had removed them right down to the root, and vowed to do so as soon as the blooms were spent.

‘Please don’t,’ said Watson, as if reading his friend’s thoughts. ‘Not on my account.’

‘Don’t they bring back bad memories of France?’

‘No. There were times that I thought the poppies were the only beauty left in the world.’

.oOOo.

Please sign the guestbook

---

Supplementary Notes: Sadly, my poppies did not return this year.

Comments

[methylviolet10b]

Poppies are lovely and full of woe, aren't they? Sadly, garden vandals keep ripping off the heads of my poppies, the daft idiots. They've reseeded themselves for years, but at this rate I think this year will be the last they have a chance to do that.

Lovely drabble.

[capt_facepalm]

Yeah, I lost all my poppies and half my lawn to some watermain reconstruction on my street last year. I hoped they might have survived since they are very hardy once established. No luck. Sigh.

[smallhobbit]

In Flanders Fields

[capt_facepalm]

Yes, that poem came to mind. Thanks!

[mightymads]

Good thing that Watson stopped Holmes just in time :)

[capt_facepalm]

Watson can anticipate what Holmes was contemplating because they have been friends for a very long time.
Thanks!

[gardnerhill]

Nice use of that association of red poppies with The War.

[capt_facepalm]

Thanks! Poppies have been associated with war since Waterloo, but after WWI they really became relevant due to Dr John McRae's poem In Flanders Fields.

[debriswoman]

Nicely linked

[capt_facepalm]

Thank you!

[pompey_01]

I'm glad Watson still likes poppies. They're such pretty things (though for such a short period of time!)

[capt_facepalm]

Thanks, I love poppies. Mine were lost to construction last fall so there were no blooms this summer. However, I have taken action! I have collected lots of pods from early reds and late pinks so my garden patch should be a riot next summer. I swear, gardeners and farmers are optimists by necessity. One has to believe in the possibility of a good future.