Narcissus

I am a daffodil.

Photo Source: What Flower Are You?

Don’t need no audience ’round me I’m fond of my own company

Who wants the birds and the bees when I’ve always got me up my sleeve?

Who said that no man’s an island surrounded by nothing but sea?

I tell you he’s wrong and misguided; I stand here surrounded by me

—Lol Mason and Max Thomas

Suna’s blog on Monday linked to a quiz to determine which type of flower fits an individual’s personality. I am apparently a daffodil, which is apparently a narcissus, according to Wikipedia. The American Daffodil Society agrees.

Here is what the quiz author has to say:

You have a sunny disposition and are normally one of the first to show up for the party. You don’t need too much attention from the host once you get there as you are more than capable of making yourself seen and heard.

Boy, did she get that one wrong! I prefer to show up after a party has started and slip in unnoticed. Unless I know the people there, I tend to be a wallflower. If I do know somebody, I tend to stick to them and avoid strangers (unless I am introduced—read, “foisted off”—on them). Otherwise, I will sit quietly until I can find an excuse to leave, then bolt for the door like a mouse in a cat house…uh, a house full of cats, that is.

I think I would go with the etymological derivation of narcissus. In Greek mythology, Narcissus was a beautiful youth who became so obsessed with his own reflection that he fell into a pond and drowned. (TubaBoy, are you reading this?) His corpse became a beautiful flower.

While I do not believe that I am beautiful or even that good looking, I have been known to be arrogant and protective of my own self-interest. I was really fond of the City Boy song, “Narcissus.” And some of my more unkind critics have called me a Narcissist. I don’t buy it. Maybe I do prefer to be a daffodil.