I love the particularity of this poem by John Montague, in which he remembers the two gardens of his childhood, gardens of which he was the "small guardian." One was a flower garden, and the other a vegetable garden: "the front for beauty, the back for use." This poem captures so many small details that I feel as though I can wander through these gardens with him in his memory.
Paths
John Montague
We had two gardens.
A real flower garden
overhanging the road
(our miniature Babylon).
Paths which I helped
to lay with Aunt Winifred,
riprapped with pebbles;
shards of painted delph;
an old potato boiler;
a blackened metal pot,
now bright with petals.
You can read the rest
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5 comments:
What lovely images in that poem -- nice to picture flowers and vegetables, colorful, green and growing, on this cold winter's day. I like the narrator's reflective tone, the gentle sense of yearning.
I hadn't heard the word "riprapped" before -- I like it. What a tender, affectionate poem!
It's lovely, Ruth. I love those 'carroty sons herding their milch cows'. Many beautiful memories here. We can follow as he walks the paths, can't we? Thank you!
Thanks for a walk in the gardens on this grey and damp day!
There is so much love in this poem, busy hands, and the beauty of the flowers and garden paths. :)
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