This poem channels the lazy part of my soul that can’t be bothered to get up and take care of the poor plants under my care. Even though they provide me with great pleasure when they are happy and healthy. The same can be said for our planet. I hope we as a species will do better with the planet than I have, with this pitiful tomato plant I have all but killed.
The sun is unrelenting.
The plants, they bake and fry.
Their roots reach down and in the sky
The sunlight, warming, shimmering, dry,
Torments the unconsenting.
The potted plants, they suffer.
No acquifer to moisten toes,
No irrigation, no repose,
Defending all the sunlight’s blows,
Till night’s parched darkening buffer.
It’s dry in this moist county,
A land, where clothing sticks, wet-through,
And mold invades each corner. Dew
Injects green every inch or two,
And insects–there’s a bounty.
But Nature’s in confusion.
What once burned hot now blasts with cold.
One can’t predict, based on the old.
Since Mankind won’t do what we’re told,
Surprise comes in profusion.
I rise, though I don’t want to.
Without me, roses wither, die.
Tomatoes droop, and orchids cry
For respite from this raging sky.
I’ll do my part. Won’t you?
Copyright 2023 Andrea LeDew
For more on environmental subjects, see Green Land , Cicadas and Invitation to Leave.
Suggested
Yes for the two-masters problem. I have called the gardens throughout my life and many locations proof of Darwin’s theory: survival of the fittest…
Haha! I conduct similar experiments in my own gardens, in the service of science. 😊
I tend to be the plant ignorer in our household. Luckily, my husband picks up the slack.
I’m sure the plants are grateful.
Yes, they reward him with blooms and vegetables.
Wonderful to hear/read from you again, Andrea, the writer‘s as well as the family‘s news. I feel with you and through your poem the pain after neglect of beloved plants—in my case, how to keep them from dying during my frequent trips.
Thank you Margrit! I am a thorn in my daughter’s side in my neglect of plants but perhaps that was what motivated her to rescue them! They say you cannot serve two masters. In your case, a fine garden and the travel bug. But I have wonderful memories of plants in front of your house in Mpls. There is an innate tendency toward Nature worship in all of us, I think.