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.
Copyright © Sidney Beck | Year Posted 2011
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