SCABIOUS - (OR SHALLOTS 2)
How are your scabious?
Mine are outrageous !
How are your cosmos?
Mine are a complete loss
So - spring gives you such a thrill
When you see your first daffodil
That's followed by a golden host
Trust you to always have the most
You go out every day
And pick a bouquet.
I usually find
Mine have all come up blind
I suffer from voles
Whose multiple holes
Show where I'd planted my lovely spring bulbs
My dahlias succumb
To earwigs and slugs
And my lilies to pretty
Little red bugs
But then I'm a resource
For wildlife of course
My poor little plot is a food bank
Your flowers are abundant
There's safety in numbers
So the pests just avoid their proud serried ranks
It was really quite kind
To keep us in mind
And to bring us your beautiful surplus flowers
To pretend you weren't noting
Though I knew you were gloating -
That your blooms were much bigger and better than ours..
The only things in my plot
That are much bigger and better than what you have got
Are the slugs..
So - I think I'll stop trying
Since everything is dying
I've had my lot with my plot
I'll bow to the inevitable
No more flowers, no more vegetables
I'm going to concrete over the lot.
© nigel hallworth 2021