|
Hands plunged in earth, bent at the waist, he stood – an inverted Atlas – the gardener, of ambiguous status, never seen hatless. He’d be there at the start of the day, maybe since dawn. Shutters would open to frame him, as if he’d been born of a dream: an enigma. Our villa’s absent host seemed embodied in him, this genial ghost who vanished at noon. Quick, dark eyes in the nest of his head would blink, then dart off, and alight on you - test your reactions. If trusted, you’d be led down to the grotto, through a door in the garden wall. Listen to the echo’s motto: ‘Dulce est desipere in loco’. Slow-fade seconds leach away the visitor’s disbelief. Your skin flakes from the sun’s bleach as the peeling-plaster vault snows on the mosaic floor. Here water-nymphs play hopscotch without keeping score. They have nothing to give in return for garlands, or tributes paid: their whims are as transient as the shifting shade of the trellis, but our venture’s not wasted. The leaven of laughter and richness of lavender make all our odds even. The shedding of layers was not loss: the wasp’s carapace found enmeshed in the vine was fine as inherited lace. |
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This page is a archive of entries in the Poetry category from October 2004.
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