How To Light a Barbecue Flame

HOW TO LIGHT A BARBECUE FLAME My garden in Ireland was at first merely A windy exposed open field sloping down right To the sea, a half-mile away nearly : My pots of musky-smelling marigolds blew away in the night. Yellow petals were ripped off my freshly-opened tulips; My roses and her berries got bad doses of windburn - Black along the edge of her shining red hips: The wind I couldn’t stop; but I tried a little to turn. I turned it up-and-over the plant beds, Put in three windbreaks across the main flow - Large hawthorn trees with a Russian vine’s tentacle threads Were front-line defence against the airy foe. Behind this, an escallonia hedge, thick and tough with shining leaves, And behind that a lower viburnum hedge With scented winter flowers creeping up the walls to the eaves Speading tiny white flowers on the window ledge. My marigold beds and tender shrubs hid, Spread in the sun behind these tough guys; And then, in turn, my cat and kid Behind the flowers and shrubs under blue skies. In the sun everyone was ready Waiting for the barbecue. When it was lit, the match flame was steady: No breeze ever got through.