GARDEN VERSE - Give A Man by Arthur Young

"Give a man secure possession of a bleak rock, and he will turn it into a garden; give him nine years’ lease of a garden, and he will convert it into a desert."

                                                                         

                                                                        Arthur Young

                                                                        Travels in France (1792)

GARDEN VERSE - Digging

Digging

To-day I think

Only with scents, - scents dead leaves yield,

And bracken, and wild carrot’s seed,

And the square mustard field;

Odours that rise

When the spade wounds the root of tree,

Rose, currant, raspberry, or goutweed,

Rhubarb or celery;

The smoke’s smell, too,

Flowing from where a bonfire burns

The dead, the waste, the dangerous,

And all to sweetness turns.

It is enough

To smell, to crumble the dark earth,

While the robin sings over again

Sad songs of Autumn mirth.

                                                                Edward Thomas
                                                                 (1878-1917)

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