Spring Flower Hyacinth

written by Younghee Lee, Essayist

for the original Korean version

Drawn by the warm sunlight, I stepped out into the yard and gently brushed aside the fallen persimmon leaves that had piled up since last autumn. As expected, beneath the leaves, pale green shoots and light purple flower buds were pushing their way up here and there. My heart, which had been shriveled during the long winter, filled with joy. I cleared away the leaves so the plants could receive more sunlight.

After Christmas and the year-end holidays pass, there are flowers that announce the arrival of spring first in my yard. It is the purple hyacinth. A long time ago, someone gifted me a pot of this plant. After enjoying its blooms, I planted the bulb under the persimmon tree. Since then, it has multiplied year after year, producing more flowers each spring. Like orchids, hyacinths grow green leaves on both sides, with a flower stalk rising from the center. Dozens of small blossoms cluster neatly along the stem, forming a single beautiful flower. Every morning, new stalks emerge, creating a feast of purple blooms, which is truly a breathtaking sight.

Looking up the meaning of the flower, I found that the hyacinth symbolizes “eternal love.” In Greek mythology, both Apollo, the sun god, and Zephyrus, the god of the west wind, fell in love with a young boy named Hyacinthus. The boy was exceptionally handsome, athletic, and even brave on the battlefield. Ultimately, Apollo and Hyacinthus became lovers.

One day, the two held a competition in a field to see who could throw a discus further. As Apollo caught a discus brilliantly thrown by Hyacinthus and hurled it high back toward him, Zephyrus – watching the scene in a fit of jealousy – blew a gust of wind. The wind caused the discus to strike the boy’s forehead, and he died. Clasping the boy in his arms, Apollo grieved. As he wept, he sprinkled the blood from the boy’s head onto the grass and promised to bring him back to life as a beautiful flower. Soon after, a flower bloomed from the blood-stained grass, and that flower is said to be the purple hyacinth.

Hyacinths carry different meanings depending on their color. Purple is eternal love and sorrowful love.  Red is love that lingers in the heart. Yellow is courage and win in love. Blue is the joy of love. White is peaceful love. Pink is playfulness and charm. While these expressions may seem distinct, all these meanings seem to represent the many emotions we experience when we love someone.

After the hyacinths fade, wood sorrel (Oxalis, called love plant in Korea), though never planted, spreads across the flower bed. Could it be the lingering traces of a love that didn’t fully blossom?

Then, the persimmon tree, jujube tree, and roses bloom in turn, completing the full arrival of spring in the yard. Watching this scene, I feel as though my own heart is blooming along with the flowers.

When spring arrives, flowers, grass, and trees do their absolute best to sprout and bloom. In doing so, they capture people’s attention and receive their love. They don’t even require much: a drink of water every few days and a few grains of fertilizer whenever they come to mind. Often, I don’t give them any fertilizer at all throughout the year. Still, as if keeping a promise, they bring us joy every day with a different appearance each time spring returns. Shouldn’t we also repay someone for the joy and beauty that nature gives us? Shouldn’t we, like the flowers and trees in our garden, sprout and bloom for someone else? It isn’t that difficult. It can be as simple as giving a bright greeting like a flower, yielding your spot in the checkout line at the market to someone with fewer items, not comparing yourself to others, avoiding greed, and not looking down on those around you.

Just as blooming a flower doesn’t require any extraordinary nutrients, we too can achieve this with just a little bit of effort. We are living in the age of AI (Artificial Intelligence), but I don’t believe we should live by relying solely on computers instead of people. No matter how beautifully a computer creates a flower, it is not a “real” flower. No matter how well an AI robot is made, how could it ever be the same as a human? Even the most wicked person has tears, don’t they?

There are times when we must not simply rush forward. If there is a terrifying cliff ahead and you keep running, you might fall and meet with disaster. Looking at a world where AI dominates every field, I am reminded of the 18th-century French Enlightenment thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He argued that the excessive development of civilization, science, and art makes humans dangerous, corrupts them, and causes inequality. This is a theory worth reflecting on once again. For seniors like us, who must gradually slow down, the arrival of an era driven by artificial intelligence feels somewhat worrying.

I believe Rousseau’s famous words, “Return to Nature,” serve as a warning to us. It is a cry to recover the inherent purity, autonomy, and moral intuition of humanity. I fear that “evil robots” might emerge and harm mankind. We humans have a duty to protect this Earth. God gave us this “Garden of Eden” called Earth in the vast universe. Just as every flower has its own unique characteristics, we humans must also exercise our individuality and traits to create a beautiful paradise.