Ode to the Sampaguita

One of my favorite Sunday morning activity is gathering sampaguita from the garden, cupping them in my palms and smelling them. The sweet smell would linger in palm even after I loosely spread the small flowers in the altar as an offering.

Sampaguita (Jasminum sambac) is the national flower of the Philippines. It  grows on shrubs just like what we have in the garden. It is a nondescript plant with tiny and fragile looking flowers. Don’t be fooled with appearances. This plant is resilient. I can’t remember someone taking care of the shrub in the garden. It stood on its own. It is low-maintenance and sturdy. The flowers bloom regularly and abundantly all throughout the year. Flood came and went and the sampaguita survived gracefully against those calamities. Because of that, it is no surprise why it was chosen as the national flower of the Philippines. It is a lovely representation of the good qualities of the Filipino spirit-  resilient, strong and giving.

Let me try to wax some poetry for these charming flowers:

Sampaguita, dainty and pure
Pretty little flowers, oh so demure!
A whiff of your essence, alluringly sweet
My Sunday morning is now complete.