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Poetry Magnum Opus

english laurel


Benjamin

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sweetness pervades the springtime bowers

and memories created here

from your innocuous small flowers

dance in the spaces far from fear

they bring with them a soft elation

that borders on intoxication

yet something's there-- just out of reach

distilled from spears of dark green leaf

for when racemes wither in summer

and autumn turns your berries black

cold shears and secateurs will hack--

the wheelbarrow will squeak and blunder

and compost in the silent dell

exude a secret almond smell

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Some very good rhyming!! I had to look up the term 'racemes'.

Drown your sorrows in drink, by all means, but the real sorrows can swim

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The Cherry (or English) Laurel has a heady (and for me addictive) sweet smell in the early spring, that carries on the breeze for some distance. Its fresh crushed leaves yield prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide) that in the past has been distilled into laurel water for medical purposes; although the emperor Nero used it to poison drinking water in the wells of his enemies.

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compost in the silent dell

exude a secret almond smell

 

What's not to like in this one either? :)

 

Reach and leaf, good assonance. I can rarely do that. Takes expertise. Liked this one, too.

 

Laurel and a garden centre....A pattern emerging? GIve us primroses and more!

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Ah! "The Banks Of The Sweet Primroses." A favourite broadsheet traditional song. And how I loved to sing those lines: "I'll make you as happy as any lady, if you will grant me one small relief." :biggrin:

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