First it is honing in on the target.
Closer and closer.
Pounce!
Then it is easing it out,
slowly and with precision.
Out damnéd weed,
for all the root must out.
And then it is the clean, sweet smell of dew-drenched mother earth,
and the greenness in the nostrils,
and the burnt sienna grains of life smeared on the hands,
and the shake to scatter the sod wrenched up
and the growth by one on the pile of spoils.
And the satisfaction of a task accomplished
and the turning back to admire the weedless patch...
and the turning back...
(12 December 2000)
I can just feel your satisfaction, turning a difficult task into something so positive. From the 8th line down you start your amazing imagery and I loved it all. 'Pounce' too really grabs the reader. Great work. 10 Karin Anderson
Sorry, Karin, I have only just seen this now - nearly 7 years later, lol! (I was born 3 weeks late - is that a good excuse, lol? No, I didn't think so! Thank you for the lovely comment! I actually love weeding, crazy as that sounds!
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
I love the zoom-in effect, Lady Macbeth! I love the smells that your poem conjures up. Personally, I'm addicted to the smell of earth, & weeds, etc. But I suspect that your poem is about something much deeper than the roots of weeds...
Thank you, Laurie, for your spontaneous and lovely reply! Giggles, yes I do sound like Lady Macbeth don't I? Me, too, I love the smells of the earth and plants! You could well have been right about it being deeper, but no, this one goes no deeper than the roots of weeds. I love the satisfaction of ridding my back garden's indigenous forest grass, Digitaria diversinervus (which grows in sunshine too) - or my indigenous forest garden (on 2 sides of the house) - of little green aliens, lol! I'm delighted you got the zoom-in effect so well! Thank you for that too!