A Monumental Task For My Grandaughter Chitra Poem by ivor or ivor.e hogg

A garden walled in rose red brick.
Which traps the sun and holds the heat
our forbears did not miss a trick.
Few modern gardens can compete.

Fruit trees espaliered to the walls
and cultivated carefully
The garden echoed to the calls
of children playing happily.

And so it was for centuries.
But family fortunes rise and fall.
We must endure what fare decrees
we have no choice no choice at all.

The garden fell into neglect
with weeds self seeding where they chose.
There’s little else you could expect.
As any good gardener knows.

.
The garden now belongs to me.
I have the means I have the will.
I will restore it perfectly
I can employ the men with skill.

To do all that needs to be done
a task that I will supervise.
It is too much for me alone
So I must listen to advice.

I will create a paradise
concealed within the rose red walls.
That is well ordered and precise.
The man who pays the piper calls

the tune.I can afford to pay
and what I seek is harmony.
A formal garden which today
is something of a rarity.

A cherished dream I can make true
Restore it as it used to be.
It’s something which I have to do.
In my ancestors memory.

My great grand father twice removed
created it originally
I am convinced it was well loved
by him and all his family.

This garden will be loved again
when restoration is complete.
My work will not have been in vain
I complement I don’t compete.

I followed carefully the plan
of how grandfather laid it out.
A monument to the old man
He would approve I have no doubt..

28-Feb-09
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