My father’s garden is overgrown;
A jungle of wild flowers from
My mother’s time.
She loved the wilderness, transplanted it;
It bloomed because of her
Green-fingered magic.
I feel it still:
My favourites are the peonies which bloom
Each June, ephemeral
Brightest of all.
I wrote this quadrille (poem of exactly 44 words) in response to the dVerse prompt ‘How does your garden grow?‘ Victoria, the host, gave us this inspiration: ‘Let’s hop into the garden of words and write a quadrille, a poem of exactly 44 words, excluding title, that uses any form of the word GARDEN.’
I’m afraid I’m a terrible gardener. I only have to look at a plant for it to wither and die! But my mum had that magical green-fingered touch which meant she could grow anything. Her flowers are still blooming more than 30 years after they were planted. And I have a sneaking suspicion peonies aren’t wildflowers, which hopefully won’t ruin the effect of the poem. I hope you enjoy it anyway!
Aww, this is quite lovely. That’s also amazing about the flowers! Wow.
Thank you! The gardening gene must have passed me by…
Oh, I love peonies too! What a beautiful garden must it be. Haha, gardening can be tricky sometimes, at least you get to witness that beauty!
Yes, I absolutely love flowers but I am happy to let someone else do the gardening 🌺
Haha, I relate to that! Does that make me lazy? lol.
You are probably just busy with other things, like me! 😊
This is just gorgeous Ingrid… one of my favourites of yours so far. 🌸💞🙏 I love peonies too. Have never grown them though. :)) My mom was also a good flower grower… so I hear you. :))
Oh I’m pleased you enjoyed it, thank you so much Lia 🌸
I’ve never heard of quadrilles. Nice one! 😊🌸
Thanks! The only one I knew was ‘The Lobster Quadrille’ from Alice in Wonderland 🤣
Exactly my experience too. My mother could turn a building site into a tiered mountain of flowers within the year. And there are wild peonies. I have some in my (uncultivated) garden.
Beautiful 🌸 thanks for clearing that up for me! I couldn’t remember if she’d grown those from wildflowers or from bulbs, but she certainly grew a lot from wild 😊
I have a photo on a blog post. I’ll look for it…
https://janedougherty.wordpress.com/2020/05/05/more-flowers-2/
This is so beautiful
Thank you so much 😊
My pleasure 🌼
Gorgeous poem Ingrid!
Thank you 🥰
🌸🌹🌺
So lovely with a nostalgic touch. It seems that wildflowers were a good choice, living on to carry memories…
Yes, it’s a kind of consolation we can find in nature. I’m pleased you liked the poem.
My mother also grew peonies in her garden. I have never tried. I think because I remember when I was young I would always pick the big beautiful flowers but there would always be ant in the petals. Not sure if this is true of them all or just the ones that grew in my yard!
Most probably – there are plenty of places for ants to hide between those petals!
I love they layers of meaning and subtext in your poems.
This was really moving.
💜
Thank you Annette! 😊