Poem: "The Greatest Gift of the Garden"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem is spillover from the July 5, 2022 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by Anthony Barrette. It also fills the "sweet" square in my 7-1-22 card for the Body Parts Bingo fest.


"The Greatest Gift of the Garden"


All up and down the hill
and around the park
there grows a garden.

In spring, the heady scents
of hyacinth and lily-of-the-valley
fill the breeze with their fragrance.
They give way to summer roses
and sweet autumn clematis
wafting clouds of vanilla.

Some of the most beautiful plants
are edible, too. Scarlet runner beans
lift their lipstick-red blossoms above
heart-shaped leaves. Raspberries gleam
like sweet jewels along the shady edges.
Sunflowers tower overhead, blooms
followed by a bounty of tasty seeds.

With every breath of wind, the garden
makes its own music. Bamboo sighs
and rustles, seedpods rattle where
blossoms used to be, and grasses
whisper. Hanging from the fruit trees,
wind chimes sing above the waterfall
that spills into the wildlife pond.

All along the paths are plants
that beg to be touched: mullein and
lamb's ears with their fuzzy leaves,
tickly fennel and red fountain grass,
playful fuchsia and snapdragons and
the popping seedpods of impatiens.

The greatest gift of the garden is
the restoration of the five senses.

* * *

Notes:

"The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses."
– Hanna Rion

A sensory garden is full of things to explore and experience. It includes plants that are fragrant, edible, beautiful, musical, and interesting to touch.

Impatiens have seedpods that burst when touched.