Les Fleur

July 11, 2010

There is a song that, to me, is more beautiful and more uplifting than any other ever written. That song is Minnie Riperton’s “Les Fleur.”

The verse is lulling and dream-like. Riperton seems to be singing from the perspective of The Flower when she asks:

Will somebody wear me to the fair?
Will a lady pin me in her hair?
Will a child find me by a stream?
Kiss my petals and weave me through a dream?

This is more than floral poetry. It’s the words of a Flower that wants to be loved. Minnie switches to third person for the next part:

For all of these simple things and much more a flower was born.
It blooms to spread love and joy, faith and hope to people forlorn.

Now we understand this Flower is something more; it inspires in us love for each other, and hope for a new future. She then sings:

Inside every man lives the seed of a flower.
If he looks within he finds beauty and power.

Inside all of us is the spirit of this Flower. This kind of love, this spirit, may seem hard to find in our selves. But as the music swells we hear a chorus that answers the first verse, telling us our hopefullness has been fulfilled. Here, in this world, the flower has come.

Ring all the bells, sing and tell the people everywhere that the flower has come.
Light up the sky with your prayers of gladness and rejoice for the darkness is gone.
Throw off your fears; let your heart beat freely at the sign that a new time is born.

Amazing.