By Chance or Appointment - 3. Garden Reflection

6 hours ago, Headstall said:

A single weed can have beauty, but when they mass it can be ugly, with the community soil given over to this torrent of bitter anger. Hatred feeds on hatred, and that is where the world finds itself. A garden that cannot be tended with the goal of the better good. 

Absolutely wonderful sonnet, Parker. We all need to be thoughtful gardeners. Cheers!

I hope that all the riot of color in our well loved gardens will drown out the weeds. Many thanks for reading this and for your reactions. 

Lone, your sonnet might be, dear friend. That doesn't in anyway lessen its qualities. Its message is one for these days we live through indeed. Twitter (my preferred social media) can sometimes come across as a nest of vipers. At other times, the sense of community spreads warmth, concern, and a desire to raise as many people together as is possible. 

I'm glad to occupy part of the same garden as so many other GA members, including, of course, you. 😘 

You wove a compelling allegory, and it needed an antagonist for its message, but I feel sorry for the weed, biologically it's often more valuable than well tended cultivated plants. 

I hope your lone sonnet gets a companion or two.

16 minutes ago, Parker Owens said:

A brood of vipers rises on the screen…. I will leave you to fill in the remaining 13 lines.

Err...  👀😬 I don't think so.

On 8/21/2022 at 1:58 AM, Aditus said:

You wove a compelling allegory, and it needed an antagonist for its message, but I feel sorry for the weed, biologically it's often more valuable than well tended cultivated plants. 

I hope your lone sonnet gets a companion or two.

You are surely right about weeds, at least some of them.  The forget-me-nots and ajuga take over the lawn every spring. I have a garden full of barely tamed weeds - gooseneck, wild sunflower, goldenrod, globe thistle - which complement and enhance my more timid cultivars.  Together, they blend textures and colors and sizes into something harmonious.  The garden isn't going to win any awards, but it's peaceful nonetheless.  Many thanks for reading, and for your commentary.

On 8/21/2022 at 1:58 AM, Aditus said:

You wove a compelling allegory, and it needed an antagonist for its message, but I feel sorry for the weed, biologically it's often more valuable than well tended cultivated plants. 

I hope your lone sonnet gets a companion or two.

A new sonnet might begin:  Have pity on the poor, forgotten weed….  That one might be fun to complete. You’re right, of course, that so-called weeds can be more interesting and more resilient than the cultivars in the garden. There are several barely tamed onetime weed specimens in the garden even now - gooseneck and goldenrod among them.  They can be both pretty and uncivil. Anyhow, thank you very much for your commentary and for reading! 

14 hours ago, Parker Owens said:

I have a garden full of barely tamed weeds - gooseneck, wild sunflower, goldenrod, globe thistle - which complement and enhance my more timid cultivars.  Together, they blend textures and colors and sizes into something harmonious. 

It's sounds like the perfekt garden to me.

I took up your challenge, but produced a rather 'Victorian' poem . . . perhaps something along the lines of Helen Hunt Jackson

The loam of Human Kindness, friable,

Can be compact within a mortal grasp,

Yet loose as needs release and pliable

For the roots of Compassion to enclasp.

Warmer emotions must shine from above

If tender regard is to grow from seed;

The sun of mankind’s garden must be Love

For our good works to produce and succeed.

But the moody darkness of self-concerns

Can pour from our clouds like a deluge flood,

To soak in ruin’s caprice wetness that burns

The bonds people form, severed in the mud.

So tend your soils well, O you Sons of Man;

Nurture on Earth, God’s harvest while you can.

45 minutes ago, AC Benus said:

I took up your challenge, but produced a rather 'Victorian' poem . . . perhaps something along the lines of Helen Hunt Jackson

 

The loam of Human Kindness, friable,

 

Can be compact within a mortal grasp,

 

Yet loose as needs release and pliable

 

For the roots of Compassion to enclasp.

 

Warmer emotions must shine from above

 

If tender regard is to grow from seed;

 

The sun of mankind’s garden must be Love

 

For our good works to produce and succeed.

 

But the moody darkness of self-concerns

 

Can pour from our clouds like a deluge flood,

 

To soak in ruin’s caprice wetness that burns

 

The bonds people form, severed in the mud.

 

So tend your soils well, O you Sons of Man;

 

Nurture on Earth, God’s harvest while you can.

 

 

 

This is a beautiful companion planting. I’m particularly taken by the second quatrain, with Love’s warmth being the essential part of the partnership between circumstance and tender regard. Your turn in the next quatrain is all the more marked, as rain follows sun. As I said, it’s lovely. Thank you! 

Simply wow to both you and @AC Benus.

2 hours ago, pvtguy said:

Simply wow to both you and @AC Benus.

I do love a sonnet. Thanks very much for reading!