“Lobelia”, the second of three wild flower poetic sketches, is complete. A short and, I hope, sweet celebration of the Thin-stalked Lobelia (Lobelia chamaepitys) that quietly adorn the mountainsides and waysides of the Overberg region in the Western Cape of South Africa from September (Spring) to April (Autumn).

Compositionally, “Lobelia” follows the tercet style of “Karkar Flowers”; like that sketch, buoyant and brief, singing the joy of beholding the flower. If the third sketch—“Kalossie”—permits it, then it too shall have this structure and so complete a tercet trio. To the development of this composition, I devote myself next.

Captivated by the Karkar and love-struck by the Lobelia, the Kalossie (Ixia stricta)¹ was pure delight: its delicate bouquet of pink blossoms swaying in the breeze on the lithest stem, a wonder to behold in the heather! This impression on the mountainside that seminal summer evening, I must somehow commit to verse.

1. Previously, I had misidentified the flower as Ixia scillaris. According to botanist Dr Christopher Whitehouse, the two are often confused, and such was my error.