July 17, 2021

My dearest,

We can’t decide whether the flower is lilac or lavender.

The blossom in question is a hibiscus, of course. Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. We are not deluded; we know this and that it isn’t a lilac bloom or spikes of lavender. No, what we are debating is its colour.

We are almost in agreement on the hue of its neighbour, another hibiscus. This one ought to fuchsia, I say. More of magenta, you argue.

Which is it?

Perhaps the correct colour is a French fuchsia, described as a “vivid purplish red”, or perhaps more of a fandago (first recorded as a colour name in English in 1925 but also, alternatively, a style of folk dance and music, a mountain pass in California and an 1891 poem by Norwegian writer Vilhelm Krag).

What a rabbit hole we find ourselves having entered, and digging our way deeper and deeper inside.

Perhaps the smart thing to do would be to concede that either or neither of us could be right. We might never find the perfect word for the colour of this beautiful hibiscus.

But it is a colour we both recognise, if only the two of us, and if there is a perfect word for it, well, perhaps it lies in the joining of our two hearts, beating furiously or curiously as it were, waiting to debate the next brilliant colour or beautiful flower that enters our life.

Yours, ever and always.