Punch/Volume 147/Issue 3808/The Silent Charmer
[Speaking of flowers a contemporary recently remarked:—" These careless-looking creatures filling the air with delight, robbing tired brains of tiredness, are a delicate texture of coloured effort that has prevailed out of a thousand chances, aided in all that effort by man. Without man they would be but weeds—a profusion of Nature's quantity."]
My dearest Thomas, I would not
Deny the fact that you are clever;
You've taught Dame Nature what is what
At horticultural endeavour
(She has not got that useful thing,
The shilling book of gardening).
Deny the fact that you are clever;
You've taught Dame Nature what is what
At horticultural endeavour
(She has not got that useful thing,
The shilling book of gardening).
She has her merits, but, of course,
Her wild attempts won't stand comparing
With such a floral tour de force
As that geranium you are wearing;
Yon chosen emblem of your skill
Must surely make her wilder still.
Her wild attempts won't stand comparing
With such a floral tour de force
As that geranium you are wearing;
Yon chosen emblem of your skill
Must surely make her wilder still.
But give me Nature; when we meet
She does not prattle of her posies,
Dull facts of what begonias eat,
The dietetic fads of roses,
And how she strove with spade and spud,
Or nipped the green fly on the bud.
She does not prattle of her posies,
Dull facts of what begonias eat,
The dietetic fads of roses,
And how she strove with spade and spud,
Or nipped the green fly on the bud.
'Tis she that really soothes the brain,
Spreading her weeds in bright profusion,
And never troubling to explain
How much they owe to her collusion,
While, Thomas, your achievements seem
To be your one and only theme.
Spreading her weeds in bright profusion,
And never troubling to explain
How much they owe to her collusion,
While, Thomas, your achievements seem
To be your one and only theme.