These verses are fun when read aloud, especially if shared with a child.
THE BEES’ SONG
Thousandz of thornz there be On the Rozez where gozez The Zebra of Zee: Sleek, striped, and hairy, The steed of the Fairy Princess of Zee.
Heavy with blossomz be The Rozez that growzez In the thickets of Zee. Where grazez the Zebra, Marked Abracadeeebra, Of the Princess of Zee.
And he nozez that poziez Of the Rozez that grozez So luvez’m and free, With an eye, dark and wary, In search of a Fairy, Whose Rozez he knowzez Were not honeyed for he, But to breathe a sweet incense To solace the Princess Of far-away Zee.
-Walter De La Mare, from the collection for children, Peacock Pie
May is for flowers! The first white echinacea opened today, and many other lovelies are in full bloom, like the Chocolate Cosmos, and a fancy mullein I planted in the fall. I hope it gets tall like the wild ones. Sorry, I can’t seem to get a good picture of it yet.
It’s the time of year when the poppies and nigella begin to look a mess, so I spent quite a while today pulling them out of the area by the front door. The picture above shows the situation “before.” I also removed one of the three salvia clevelandii that live there; you can sort of see one at the back, reaching for the sky with its long branches. The latest landscaper was a hopeless over-planter, I am realizing every day. I love that salvia and its herby scent, but it gets big. One of them to “anchor” the bed would have been plenty. They are casting too much shade, and crowding the Clary Sage that will bloom next month.
Fuligo septica
I discovered the above thing clinging to the inside of a planter box and a milkweed plant. I pointed my phone’s Seek app at it and it knew immediately what it was. The common name it gave me was too unpleasant for me to want to pass on, but it is a kind of slime mold. Probably some of my readers are familiar with it.
Nigella under the plum tree.
My zucchini, sunflower, and zinnia seeds have sprouted. And I think the amaranth, too, though the leaves I see are such tiny ones, I can’t be sure yet. It’s nice to be home enough that I can go out several times a day, set the hose nozzle to “shower” and moisten the ground for them. Here’s a little poem in praise of seeds.
The seeds I sowed – For week unseen – Have pushed up pygmy Shoots of green; So frail you’d think The tiniest stone Would never let A glimpse be shown. But no; a pebble Near them lies, At least a cherry-stone In size, Which that mere sprout Has heaved away, To bask in sunshine, See the Day.
Among my family and friends we remember many May birthdays. ………………..I offer this poem in honor of them all.
THE BIRTHNIGHT
Dearest, it was a night That in its darkness rocked Orion’s stars; A sighing wind ran faintly white Along the willows, and the cedar boughs Laid their wide hands in stealthy peace across The starry silence of their antique moss: No sound save rushing air Cold, yet all sweet with Spring, And in thy mother’s arms, couched weeping there, Thou, lovely thing.
When the flowers of earth have faded, go outside at night and look up…
WANDERERS
Wide are the meadows of night And daisies are shining there, Tossing their lovely dews, Lustrous and fair; And through these sweet fields go, Wanderers ‘mid the stars __ Venus, Mercury, Uranus, Neptune, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars.
Tired in their silver, they move, And circling, whisper and say, Fair are the blossoming meads of delight Through which we stray.
Gladsome Lights 