Sonnet to a Cabbage

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s bloom?
Thou art more hardy and vivid in snow.
Over charming cabbages, dark clouds loom,
Soft fall winter’s tears on curled leaf below.
Coldest days, the white sky fills with snowflakes
Their white color enhances your bolder.
The distant sun peeks, an opening makes,
Crystal sparkles enchant the beholder.
And yet, the blindness reminds of regrets,
Summer sprite and fae gardens are no more.
Gnomes and dwarves hibernate in cabbage beds,
Violet leaf consoles as we adore.
Even when we wearily shovel snow,
We are buoyed by your vibrant purple glow.

Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: Inspired by Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 (one of my favorites), after learning one of my readers had not read Shakespeare.

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Brenda Davis Harsham

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December 14, 2013

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Poetry

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Tree of Life Haībun

Used with permission of Managua Gunn

I dream here in this place of ancient magic, listening to the humming telephone wires. Oil wells beat like a thousand hearts. My roots stretch beneath the hill, into the frozen past. The dry desert sands cannot warm the hidden place where the Garden of Eden still flourishes, hidden from man these many thousand years. I was blown to this hill as a seed, more than 400 years ago.

mother lost in time
father wind threw me from her
alone in this place

A child fell, cutting his knee on a pottery shard. His blood watered the sand, pushing me into the soil. In his brief pain, he called to Enki, the Water God, who granted a year of beating rain. Was I blessed by Enki to outlive my kin or cursed to burn in the sun, gaped at by tourists?

Shajarat-al-Hayat
symbol of forgotten time
outliving all loves

Inspired by the weekly Haībun challenge.
References:
http://www.worldtoptop.com/mysterious-tree-of-life-bahrain/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_Life,_Bahrain
http://www.bahrain.com/en/vp/things-to-do/top-ten-sights/Pages/Tree-of-Life.aspx#.UqvbGyihDzI