Monday, April 29, 2013

ABC Wednesday
May 1st, 2013

The letter this week is P
Perfect for Peonies


 
With a Paean of Praise from Mary Oliver in her beautiful poem "Peonies"
 
This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers
 
and they open -
pools of lace,
white and pink -and all day the black ants climb over them,
 
boring their deep and mysterious holes
into the curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away
 
to their dark, underground cities -
and all day
under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,
 
the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise,
their red stems holding
 
all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again -
beauty the brave, the exemplary,
 
blazing open.
Do you know this world?
Do your cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass with its terror beneath?
 
Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,
 
with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
For more wonderful Ps click here and push over to ABC Wednesday where Mrs. Nesbitt and her perky helpers provide you with many pleasant and piquant pictures.

12 comments:

MaR said...

Precious peonies and wonderful words

P is for....

Roger Owen Green said...

pretty flowers
ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Dimple said...

So lovely! I just last fall transplanted some peonies into my yard from that of a deceased relative. They are alive and shooting up...I await buds!

Unknown said...

Wonderful captures of these flowers, Hildred! Happy Wednesday:)

aspiritofsimplicity said...

Oh I can practically smell them. My mother is selling her house and her peonies are one of the things she will miss the most in her garden.

uberrhund said...

Pretty Praise worthy Peonies you have Posted! Really beautiful.

Reader Wil said...

Peonies are my favourite flowers! I have red ones in my frontgarden!

Nonnie said...

peonies are my very, very favorite flowers! they are Indiana's state flower. my mother's peonies had a heavenly scent; I miss having them where I now live.

Ann said...

Peonies are my all-time favorite flower. Their fragrance is intoxicating to me.
Ann

Carver said...

Those are gorgeous peonies. I was visiting a garden Sunday that had peonies at the bud stage. I'll have to return later to see the open. I used to have 3 tree peonies but I lost them to a drought several years ago.

magiceye said...

Perfect indeed!

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Oh Hildred your peonies are beautiful and I didn't know that wonderful poem. You know that she not only loves the beauty of this flower but has also really experienced growing it. (I remember both how a windstorm could decimate those beautiful blossoms and how we battled those black ants.) But we kept on growing them because of their beauty which Ms Oliver (and your photos) express so wonderfully!