Oxalis stricta
By onemorething
- 2450 reads
Vinegar-veined, this sour grass
spreads, decumbent, lying low
across willing earth, beside paths,
its brocade of trifoliate green
and blooms of lemon yellow.
You see now its quiet loveliness,
but I do not know
when it became a weed.
A weed amidst the extension
of so much added ugliness,
so much greater cruelty -
and who could ask us not
to designate, to rename, to crush
any different sort of beauty,
and not to look away.
Torn from soil, this friend
of bee fly and cabbage white,
limp petalled and browned
where cordate leaves
once gathered to sleep
beneath the rhythm of night.
How easily we seem to abandon
and discard each other,
turn our heads, wanting love, ever
wanting everything, when ignorance
is just another kind of hate.
Image is from here: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oxalis_stricta_—_Flora_Batava_—_Volume_v7.jpg
- Log in to post comments
Comments
good gracious! two incredibly
good gracious! two incredibly brilliant poems in two days!!!
This is not the oxalis I know, which has pale, pale pink flowers and grows in the woods. the link did not work when I clicked on it?
your gorse poem is still filling my mind
- Log in to post comments
Pick of the Day
This is our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day! Please share/retweet if you like it.
- Log in to post comments
I must admit, I'm not good at
I must admit, I'm not good at differentiating weeds from plants etc. Many "weeds" are very beautiful. Gorgeous poem, of course :)
- Log in to post comments
Beautiful, and also one of my
Beautiful, and also one of my favourite words to say 'oxalis'. Pretty little thing, quiet loveliness as you say. I am familiar with the little purple one with a yellow flower which grows in very dry spots. I will admit to crushing its beauty but after reading this, I will think again.
- Log in to post comments
Beautiful this. I'm one who
Beautiful this. I'm one who leaves the weeds as they are without realizing they're weeds at all until my my tells me. 'But it weren't bothering no one,' I'd say.
Rich
- Log in to post comments
Decumbent is my new favourite
Decumbent is my new favourite word.
Weeds are underrated.
Lovely poem.
- Log in to post comments
A really smashing poem. I'm
A really smashing poem. I'm with Paul in that I often mix up weeds and flowers. My Mum will attest to that after enduring a number of partially ruined flower beds, before she told me I should probably turn my hand to something else. But there is so much beauty in some weeds. That last stanza is an absolute killer.
- Log in to post comments
I think that the Oxalis
I think that the Oxalis Stricta is one of those plants that will survive long after we're gone. As with many other weeds we don't really appreciate their true gift, yet you always seem to be able to show in your poems, just how much we need these wild plants and their qualities.
Lovely poem Rachel.
Jenny.
- Log in to post comments