Garden Tale

gardens are where we are: from "Eden" to "Gilgamesh", "Babylon" to "Gethsemane" from mountain to coast, town to country from wetlands to desert oasis, under the sea to the edge of ice from "Earth" to space-station orbit, from planet to planet gardens are where we live: from outside-in to inside-out, around to beside from collective to individual, quadrangle to atrium from backyard to balcony, from courtyard to cloister from ground-up to sky-high roofs, from nook to cranny gardens are where we visit: from commons to curtilage, allotment to village green from manicured plot to mere scruff of land from wild to walled, organic to formal, meadow to lawn from parkland to zoological, from arboretum to vivarium gardens are where we tend: place of flora, display and decay, bulb and bud, compost heap fruit, flower and grass, vegetable, shrub and season, orchard and tree, seed and feed, moss and weed landscape zone, bed and border, low and high, soft and hard gardens are where we share: place of fauna, beetle, insect, worm, slug and grub little feathered one and less-favoured bigger bird hedgehog, mouse and mole, dog and feline lurker nocturnal creatures, night owl, bat and canny fox gardens are where we work and play: blower, mower and hoer, digger, trimmer and feeder trampoline, trapeze, swing and climbing-frame hot tub, swimming pool, sandpit and tree hut dangling rope, make-shift bar, barbecue and loungers gardens are where we arrange: seat and bench, bank and wall, hedge, fence and terrace deck and patio, step and rockery, path and driveway pond and fountain, pot and gargoyle, gnome and statue solar panel, whirly-gigs and paraphernalia gardens are where we utilise: soil, sand and earth, pebble, cobble and brick, slab and block gravel and stones, tar and timber, concrete and clay propagator and fertiliser, weed-killer and repellant hose and spray-gun, faucet and waste-recycling bin gardens are where we construct: green- and summer-house, chalet and conservatory pavilion and utility-room, birdhouse and feeding station fuel chest and storage box, arbor and bower pergola and gazebo, canopy and awning, trellis and mesh gardens are where we intersect: place of greeting neighbours and hiding from sight place of meeting and memorial, safety and enclosure place of imagination and creation, snowmen, fun and games place of rest and retreat, to contemplate the universe ......gardens are in my mind