Reseda Lutea Returns to the City

 

Nature sows, earth grows
wind carries, seeds tarry
ground accepts, water wets
time roots, plants shoot
earth powers wild flowers
green stems, yellow hems
clump together, summer weather
bees alight, butterflies white
mignonette – dry steppes
meadow grass, stony paths
wasteland, clay, sand
train tracks, between cracks.

In the city, what a pity
law sours wild flowers
man weeds, roots cede,
stone stark, nature dark
flowerless, years pass
man sees man’s needs
very pretty, in the city
man sows, nature owns
time roots, plants shoot
hand in land, land in hand
nature sows, earth grows

*Wild Mignonette

This poem was a commissioned poem for Where the Wild Flowers Are, a project devised by Clare Whistler for The City of London Festival, 2012, celebrating all the wild flowers that used to grow in the City’s churchyards. I was designated this flower: Wild Mignonette. Each poem was either set to music or performed and danced to in different City of London churches. A Wildflower Anthology of all poems was published for the event.