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GREEN THINGS GROWING

MY GARDEN

A GARDEN is a lovesome thing, God wot!
Rose plot,

Fringed pool,

Ferned grot

The veriest school

Of peace; and yet the fool

Contends that God is not

Not God! in gardens! when the eve is cool?
Nay, but I have a sign:

'Tis very sure God walks in mine.

Thomas Edward Brown [1830-1897]

THE GARDEN

How vainly men themselves amaze
To win the palm, the oak, or bays,
And their incessant labors see
Crowned from some single herb or tree,
Whose short and narrow-vergèd shade
Does prudently their toils upbraid;
While all the flowers and trees do close
To weave the garlands of repose!

Fair Quiet, have I found thee here,
And Innocence, thy sister dear?
Mistaken long, I sought you then
In busy companies of men:
Your sacred plants, if here below,
Only among the plants will grow;
Society is all but rude

To this delicious solitude.

The Garden

No white nor red was ever seen
So amorous as this lovely green.
Fond lovers, cruel as their flame,
Cut in these trees their mistress' name:
Little, alas! they know or heed

How far these beauties hers exceed!
Fair trees! where'er your barks I wound,
No name shall but your own be found.

When we have run our passions' heat,
Love hither makes his best retreat:
The gods, that mortal beauty chase,
Still in a tree did end their race;
Apollo hunted Daphne so
Only that she might laurel grow;
And Pan did after Syrinx speed,
Not as a nymph, but for a reed.

What wondrous life is this I lead!
Ripe apples drop about my head;
The luscious clusters of the vine
Upon my mouth do crush their wine;
The nectarine and curious peach
Into my hands themselves do reach;
Stumbling on melons, as I pass,
Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass.

Meanwhile the mind, from pleasure less,
Withdraws into its happiness;

The mind, that ocean where each kind
Does straight its own resemblance find;
Yet it creates, transcending these,
Far other worlds, and other seas;
Annihilating all that's made

To a green thought in a green shade.

Here at the fountain's sliding foot,
Or at some fruit-tree's mossy root,
Casting the body's vest aside,
My soul into the boughs does glide;

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There, like a bird, it sits and sings,
Then whets and combs its silver wings,
And, till prepared for longer flight,
Waves in its plumes the various light.

Such was that happy Garden-state
While man there walked without a mate:
After a place so pure and sweet,

What other help could yet be meet!

But 'twas beyond a mortal's share

To wander solitary there:
Two paradises 'twere in one,
To live in Paradise alone.

How well the skilful gardener drew
Of flowers and herbs this dial new!
Where, from above, the milder sun
Does through a fragrant zodiac run:
And, as it works, the industrious bee
Computes its time as well as we.

How could such sweet and wholesome hours

Be reckoned, but with herbs and flowers!

Andrew Marvell [1621-1678]

A GARDEN

WRITTEN AFTER THE CIVIL WARS

SEE how the flowers, as at parade,
Under their colors stand displayed:
Each regiment in order grows,
That of the tulip, pink, and rose.
But when the vigilant patrol

Of stars walks round about the pole,

Their leaves, that to the stalks are curled,

Seem to their staves the ensigns furled.

Then in some flower's beloved hut

Each bee, as sentinel, is shut,

And sleeps so too; but if once stirred,

She runs you through, nor asks the word.

A Garden Song

O thou, that dear and happy Isle,
The garden of the world erewhile,
Thou Paradise of the four seas
Which Heaven planted us to please,
But, to exclude the world, did guard
With watery if not flaming sword;
What luckless apple did we taste
To make us mortal and thee waste!
Unhappy! shall we never more
That sweet militia restore,

When gardens only had their towers,
And all the garrisons were flowers;
When roses only arms might bear,
And men did rosy garlands wear?

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Andrew Marvell [1621–1678]

A GARDEN SONG

HERE, in this sequestered close
Bloom the hyacinth and rose;
Here beside the modest stock
Flaunts the flaring hollyhock;
Here, without a pang, one sees
Ranks, conditions, and degrees.

All the seasons run their race
In this quiet resting-place;
Peach, and apricot, and fig
Here will ripen, and grow big;
Here is store and overplus,-
More had not Alcinous!

Here, in alleys cool and green,
Far ahead the thrush is seen;
Here along the southern wall
Keeps the bee his festival;
All is quiet else—afar

Sounds of toil and turmoil are.

Here be shadows large and long;
Here be spaces meet for song;

Grant, O garden-god, that I,
Now that none profane is nigh,—
Now that mood and moment please,

Find the fair Pierides!

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From sight of revel and sound of strife,

Where the bird may sing out his soul ere he die,

Nor fears for the night, so he lives his day;
Where the high red walls, which are growing gray
With their lichen and moss embroideries,

Seem sadly and sternly to shut out life,
Because it is often as red as they;

Where even the bee has time to glide

(Gathering gayly his honey's store)

Right to the heart of the old-world flowers

China-asters and purple stocks,

Dahlias and tall red hollyhocks,

Laburnums raining their golden showers, Columbines prim of the folded core,

And lupins, and larkspurs, and "London pride";

Where the heron is waiting amongst the reeds,
Grown tame in the silence that reigns around,
Broken only, now and then,

By shy woodpecker or noisy jay,

By the far-off watch-dog's muffled bay;

But where never the purposeless laughter of men,

Or the seething city's murmurous sound

Will float up over the river-weeds.

Here may I live what life I please,

Married and buried out of sight,

Married to pleasure, and buried to pain,

Hidden away amongst scenes like these,

Under the fans of the chestnut trees;

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