Garden Musing
What can surpass the relaxation found in a garden. Lay down in the grass and watch a bee sample clover nectar. Soak in the color of bursting blooms. Marvel at vegetables racing to mature. Fix your camera lens on small things and open your eyes to light and life. Allow your mind to drift, to imagine, to muse…
He
Lightning bug glow.
Flash your fire.
Your lady waits
Fly free beetle wings
Sail over vine and tendril
Attract your heart’s desire
Court her in leaf’s cradle.
Find her nectar sweet.
She
Out! Go back!
I admire your iridescent beauty,
but you’re consuming my marigolds.
Revisit your homeland across the sea.
Spread your beetle wings and fly.
Flee far from my garden
and me.
There, I have bolted.
See my pregnant pouch split?
The bulb of your desire may be smaller,
but my lavender flowers yearn to birth seed.
I have dreamed of hundreds of shiny children,
no bigger than a pinhead, yet full of life.
I offer my progeny to the wind and rain.
They will nestle in fertile loam toasted by summer’s sun.
So, despise not my expectant bloom.
Rather, respect my onion cycle and rejoice with me.
* * *
Note: Male Lightning Bugs (rather, beetles) are equipped with bio luminescence so that they can attract their mates. The female feeds on plant nectar and usually can be found on leaves. It’s the males you see twinkling in the night sky.
The beetle pictured on a marigold flower is a Japanese Beetle. There are adequate biological controls in Japan to prevent their unabated spread, but not here in the Eastern United States where they chomp on everything in sight. You have to admit, though, that their shiny red and green bodies are striking.
Those who raise onions in their gardens would rather their onions would not bolt, or produce a long straight stem bearing flowers. Once an onion bolts, it produces a smaller onion and thus a smaller onion crop. There are ways to prevent this, including planting seeds rather than seedlings in the spring.
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I love the close-up photos. They bring out the beauty and vibrance that we may not have noticed otherwise. Very interesting facts and beautiful poetry too! It was so much fun watching the lightning bugs with you!
Thank you for the opportunity to see your garden. I thoroughly enjoyed it and desire to build such a garden in our yard. I always learn so much from you!
Oh I am so glad I roamed over from John’s photo abode to your garden delights…just what my mind needed. Oh and your Jamaican adventure souns/looks wonderful too. A tiny vacation for the mind. Much appreciated. shanti
Thanks, Shanti. I’m glad you visited. We all can use an occasional vacation.
Gardens are great, even an untended patch of weeds holds secrets.
I’ve been working all summer photographing fireflies, amazing to watch, but their magic is hard to capture.
Rick, I’d love to see your firefly photos. I agree that the little insects are a challenge to photograph. A favorite summer memory is of a large oak lit up like a Christmas tree with hundreds of tiny firefly lights.