My garden is peopled
with bearded giants,
purple, plump, and
peppered with gold dust.
I hope irises are friendly
and don’t nibble holes in the
Queen Anne’s Lace or bite off
fairy toes or
bumble nose.
Giants are a fright.
Were I the size of a bee,
how would they seem to me?
Would I think them grand
purple palaces or
wily amethyst dragons?
Or would they be sweet shops
with nectar-topped bon-bons?
Or might they be sweat shops
of pushy purple plants demanding,
“Not there!”
“Walk here!”
“A little to the right!”
If I were a bee,
I would rush to visit,
drink deeply, and linger.
I’d taste each morsel twice —
for those magnificent blooms
last only one day.
Then they crumple, curl up
and withdraw, letting another
bud shine.
By design,
nature says “Good night.”
Copyright 2016 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: Happy Poetry Friday and thanks to Penny Parker Klostermann at Blog-a Penny and her Jots for hosting. Head there for the weekly poetry party with drinks, oops, I mean links, for all.
Love the message and the prose. Happy Hols from Chilie!
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Have a wonderful time!
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This is lovely Brenda….if only we knew for a day what it was like to be a bee, or anything really small! I expect the garden would be like flying in a giant pop up book, but with extra dimensions. Oh, and just imagine the fragrance….might just blow our noses off…haha!! 😀
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True. And the fragrance might be visible, like a pink-sparkling wind.
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I love the poem and the flowers! Thank you for writing this today I needed this good vibe! 😀
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My pleasure! Thanks for the uplifting comment.
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You’ve listed so many imaginative ways of looking at the iris. Some favorites are “purple palaces” and “amethyst dragons.” That business of bearded irises always gives me pause–how can something bearded be so pretty?
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LOL You are showing your prejudices. Aren’t ZZ top handsome?? LOL
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I love all the descriptions and questions throughout. I am always in awe of your word play, Brenda. Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks, Kiesha. Nice of you to say!
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O purple palaces and wily amethyst dragons! Love these lines and the imaginative leaps in this poem. Thank you!
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Thank you, Irene. It was fun trying to find the best words. 🙂
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I love all the roles you’ve imagined for the irises!
Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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Thanks, Ruth!
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Spring and irises seem like such faraway things now! It’s hard to believe that my sad-looking mess of an iris bed will spring back to life and rule the garden as giants in 8 months or so! I enjoyed your multi-faceted (hat tip to the bee’s point of view) tribute to the iris. Nice use of alliteration in the first stanza!
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Thanks, Mary Lee. I was a bit slow to write a poem for the irises this year. I’ve had a lot of distractions, though.
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Love thinking of these “grand purple palaces” where the bee rushes to “visit, drink deeply, and linger.” Irises always make me think of my grandmother.
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Irises remind me of my wedding. I carried irises and lilacs. I’m glad to remind you of your grandmother. I remember mine fondly.
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Brenda,
I enjoyed your perspective on bearded irises. What fun! I especially liked the sweat shop lines.
I’ve been thinking of you lately when I read a piece about talking to your fairies and asking them to help you.
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🙂 I do like poetry about the fairies.
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Love the imaginary bee perspective, especially the nectar-topped bon-bons!
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Thanks, Buffy!
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Beautiful post, Brenda – in every way.
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Thanks, Hook!
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If I were a bee, I’d be right there on those gorgeous, amethyst dragons!
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Wouldn’t that be a great ride? LOL
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My mom had lots of the purple dragons in her garden… so easy to grow! I was always fascinated with the knife-like leaves and how you could see the swelling of a stalk as it erupted between the blades. A wonderful poem about these common, yet unusual, flowers! I also amazes me that they really don’t have much of a scent, for such a majestic flower.
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They are so very three-dimensional, not plate-like as so many blooms are. They are a challenge to paint. I took this photo and thought and thought about something new to say about them. I’m glad I managed to get there in the end. Thanks for commenting.
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We’ve had bees in the lavender all summer and so this poem was a lot of fun for me. I’m with Michelle – love the bees checking out the “nectar-topped bon-bons”!
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Thanks, Julie! I can’t let go of summer yet.
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Oh, Brenda! From the beginning to the end, I love this poem:
“My garden is peopled
with bearded giants”
to
“By design,
nature says “Good night.”
I will never look at irises the same way again. =)
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Thank you, Bridget! What a happy shiver you’ve given me.
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What a lot of great imagery, Brenda! Especially like the sweet shops scenario with the “nectar-topped bon-bons”— mmmmm…
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LOL That’s me, always thinking of sugar.
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Hi Brenda! I like “wily amethyst dragons” — I can imagine a picture book with a knight-bee riding an iris-dragon 🙂
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Me, too. 🙂 We should make it happen.
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Beautiful Brenda! You have such an imagination!!!
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LOL Always getting me into trouble. 😉
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So fun to hear your wonderings from the bees POV. And I LOVE the opening—”purple, plump, and peppered” is really fun to read aloud.
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Thanks, Penny. Irises are amazing in full bloom. They were tall as my daughter. 🙂
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The bees around here are so, so busy, and I’m told that it’s because of an unusually harsh winter coming. I love that you imagined those “giants” ordering the bees around, and I like reading this aloud, Brenda, lovely wordplay “letting another
bud shine.
By design,”- nice!
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Thanks, Linda. Oh, hurricane season is looking grim. I hope winter isn’t grim, too. Droughts, hurricanes and deep snow. I might question why I live here!
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I love bees and think it’s great that you’ve imagined what it would be like for a bee to encounter your gorgeous irises.
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It is fun to imagine oneself tiny when one’s trouble grow large. 🙂
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Nice images: oh to be a bee — I wonder just what I could see!
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The world would be full of color, no doubt!
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Love it!!
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Thank you!
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My father used to grow Irishs (he used to pronounce them Irishs)
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Did he? How funny to think of them as little Irish men and women. 🙂
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He had a very deep Mexican accent and thought it sounded like Irish rather than Iris
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You must miss him. What a great memory of him.
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What an enchanting beginning: “My garden is peopled
with bearded giants,
purple, plump, and
peppered with gold dust.” Magical!
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Thanks, Molly. The highest compliment. 🙂
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aw, how sad, just one day to shine so bright.
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They are glorious when they shine, though, aren’t they?
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They are!
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Gentle giants…loved the analogy… 🙂
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Thank you!
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I love your gentle giants!
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Thanks, Cindy. 🙂 Loved your gerber daisies. Thought they were like Seuss Truffula trees, only in flower form.
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I love your description of the giants. I would have been scared if I did not know what they were. If I were a bee, these giants would be sweet shops.
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LOL I like to think so, too. I like to think of bees as having a life of bon-bons. Someone should!
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I simply LOVE your mythical viewpoint. Whoever would think of these as bearded giants…but of course they are! so wonderful!! 🙂
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LOL Thanks, Morgan! 🙂 If you’re the size of a bee, I bet the world is pretty huge.
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