April 12, 2008

"Man With Flowers"

MAN WITH FLOWERS



The old man, pottering in his garden,

Observes the nodding of the fronds,

Gentle as mist in the slightest breeze.

He has already buried both his wives,

One in a sanitarium, the other

Beneath the azaleas. Since those days

In the other world, it has been all inscape.


 

Days are measured in a flower's growth.

Season's end -- the brush, weeds and stalks

Are burned. After so long that fire assumes

Awesome dimensions for this man, who sets

It, watches it flare and waits with the sun --

Which outlives him and his plants.


 

He has become used to this existence,

Simple pleasures -- the last walk through

The poplars on the slope at dusk -- quietly.

Still, his mind occasionally loses track

Of petals, fruit and earth, and falls into

The sea from which he followed his course.

Sea-thunder shadows each uncertain step.


 

(from In Sight of Chaos, 1971, Turret Books, London)

Posted by Tom at 22:52:32 | Permanent Link | Comments (6) |
Comments
1 - I was planting flowers yesterday, which is probably why this one came to mind. The poem was actually inspired in part by a photograph of Hermann Hesse in old age, working in his garden in Switzerland. I can't believe I used "awesome." You can lose that word once in a novel, never in a poem, alas. Too many dudes have killed it:-) (Comment this)

Written by: Tom at 2008/04/12 - 23:42:06
2 - Verbal devaluation is a dreadful thing. It's even getting difficult to look "brilliant" in the face these days. As for "weird", well [insert clip-on rant here and leave for 10mins]. (Comment this)

Written by: Philip at 2008/04/14 - 11:38:34
3 - Too right, Philip. "Presidential" has also undergone quite a devaluation these last eight years;-) (Comment this)

Written by: Tom at 2008/04/14 - 20:35:07
4 - Nevertheless, despite the despicable intents of the evil-oriented, our verbo-economic position continues to retain a very considerable degree of positivity as we prepare to adequatise ourselves for the task ahead ... (Comment this)

Written by: Philip at 2008/04/15 - 14:14:59
5 - And "literally" may now mean "figuratively," as in variations of this usage, which I've heard spoken numerous times: "I was so scared, I literally died." I believe it's also possible that some people are so "cool" they're "hot." (Comment this)

Written by: Tom at 2008/04/15 - 20:40:16
6 - Yes, words like "actually" and "literally" (and, in the UK, "basically") which get turned into "fillers" and eke out their lives extending sentences which, by and large, deserve to be truncated if not altogether gagged and cast into outer darkness - these words are perhaps the most pitiable of all. (Comment this)

Written by: Philip at 2008/04/16 - 08:16:17
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