The Well-Mannered 
Garden
There, it's decided, my hand
obeying the gardener's implacable
muse with its pitiless eye
espying within the orderly
precincts of favoured perennials
an intruder uninvited and 
therefore cursed to the oblivion
of swift separation from 
nurturing Mother Earth. The
swift, dismayed wilt of the
sweet tender stalk of a plant
albeit pleasing when planted
has the gall to replicate itself
without prior consultation
representing an intolerable
breach of garden etiquette. So
the tidily tender new plant
eager to prepare itself for a
robust future is abruptly disabused
of the quaint sense of flora
entitlement. For no self-respecting
gardener would permit the insouciant
anarchic bloom of lilies of
the valley, bleeding heart
Ladies Mantle and other self
starting enthusiasts to detract
from the perfection of the 
well-ordered garden. Beauty of
form, texture and fragrance
aside, order must prevail.