My Yellow Garden
I put a garden in
early last spring,
decided to begin
decorating
the yard with brilliant blooms
for birds with crimson plumes,
the way my neighbor grooms his vines that cling
to walls and climb the fence—
so beautiful
to see! In my defense,
though dutiful,
I tried to beautify
my plot of earth, but my
skill with plants many find disputable.
When once the blooms were set
and photos shot,
I tried not to forget
the water pot;
but things got in the way
quite nearly every day.
How sad the disarray of garden plot.
My thirsty blossoms died
from lack of care;
the shame I could not hide,
nor hardly bear.
I pulled them all back up,
let grow the buttercup,
an easy runner-up whose looks are fair.
To you they may be weeds
that mar the lawn;
they spread their tiny seeds
until they’ve gone
and overtaken all
the green with what you’d call
the yellow-hued appalling devil’s spawn.
But I prefer the kind,
if they will grow,
of flowers small that do not mind
to run the show
and cover all the ground,
wherever they be found.
If costless they abound, then let them go.
For can you find a flower
half so sweet
that grows up in an hour
at your feet
without a drop of sweat
nor half a day’s regret?
Or would you rather fret with toil and heat?
If you prefer the pink
of thorny rose,
or you would rather stink
of tuberose,
please pardon my affronts;
though you think me a dunce,
they’re all the same when once they decompose.
So if you’re looking for
a nurseryman,
don’t knock upon my door,
dear countryman,
unless, like me, you find
the buttercups a kind
of flower you don’t mind to see again.
Copyright © 2020 Abigail Gronway – All Rights Reserved
Welcome to my series, Incremental Poetry, where each week the featured poem will be one line longer than the one I share the week before. I have no idea how long I’ll keep this up, so we’ll just have to wait and see. Thank you for stopping by.
Scansion:
The Swinburne
Invented by Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909)
Patterned after “Before the Mirror”
Stanzaic: any number of septet stanzas
Length: 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, etc. lines
Metered: L1, L3, L5, L6 = trimeter; L2 & L4 = dimeter; L7 = pentameter
Syllabic: 6-4-6-4-6-6-10
Rhyme scheme: ababcc(c)b dedeff(f)e, etc.
The 6th syllable of L7 must rhyme with L5 & L6.
Dark Side of the Moon 