Yesterday afternoon I wandered lonely as a cloud ...er...no I didn't, and that was somebody else who wrote that one, anyway. I toured a Blogland which was definitely showing signs of Spring, from Marisi to Maggie May, and several stations in between, photos of daffodils, crocuses, snowdrops, acted as harbingers of the approaching season.
Nothing strange in that, you might say. But what suddenly struck me, was the fact that houseplants, although they are carefully nurtured (by the green fingered among us, anyway - I could demonstrate otherwise, I'm sad to say) are always denied part of the life from which they originally evolved - total freedom to bloom as nature intended. In the wild, plants grow in a habitat best suited to their needs. In a house, they are at the mercy of their jailers.
Here then is the result of my thinking. The words bloomed with little effort on my part; I imagine napple notes had provided them with the perfect place to grow, and show their gentle faces in the fertile fields of Blogland.
Passing Thoughts
When flowers grow inside a house
do they ever want to grouse
at never being 'en plein air'?
Are they really unaware
how wide the world beyond them spreads?
What thoughts run sweetly through their heads?
Do they miss the rain and sun,
the changing light, the days that run
into each other, week by week?
Or is it merely love they seek;
a gentle hand, some loving care -
until they bloom to prove they are there...
A lovely sensitive poem.I think you've carried empathy to its limits!
ReplyDeleteI agree, it is lovely to see the recent Spring images... your writing and poem reminded me of poor Max who now has to spend time in a cage instead of flying free... who'd have thought I'd have got that from your poem!! ;)
ReplyDeleteR R - I think you're right!
ReplyDeleteED - Once you start thinking, it can apply to animals, or even housebound people, I guess. Not what I intended, but there you go...
Quite a personal take on flowers. I used to say if I had a fire in my house I would get my babies out and I meant my plants!
ReplyDeleteHello Jinksy,
ReplyDeleteI'm sure they appreciate the loving care, warmth and congenial surroundings indoors!
I have never gotten into houseplants. This time of year, we bring home hyacinths from the store, and they last for a few weeks, but that's about it for me. There are a few around the house that Cuppa tends to, more or less, but I pretty well don't even see them.
ReplyDeleteVery nice poem, Jinksy! My sense is that indoor houseplants do have the sort of longings you've described.
ReplyDeleteSo nice to have thought from a houseplant's point of view. :) Never occurred to me if they could speak what would they speak. Definitely these very lines. :)
ReplyDeleteI've often thought the same about plants - they're in a prison of sorts, aren't they? Mine, sadly, would probably equate their prison to a concentration camp, because they're alternately starved and drowned poor things! I've learned which plants survive my 'love' and which don't - and I'm amazed to learn that orchids do!
ReplyDeleteAt least I do occasionally put all the pots outside in the summer to be rained upon. I consider it their little annual holiday. LOL!
YOU ARE SUCH A DODERING ROMANTIC...of course plants don't sit around and lament about being in the house with no sun rain and snow>>>birds don't lament about being inside a cage when i can spy on them out doors on their feeders
ReplyDeleteI see you all vary in your attitudes to houseplants, but Putz-
ReplyDeleteLess of the doddering, please!
(I don't object to the romantic label....LOL)
I fill my life with tropical plants and foliage that could never exist outside the doors of a warm building... of course, in the Frozen country- nothing grows for nine months out of the year.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing is, I treat my plants like people: they are live things, responsive to my music, lighting, feeding and care- and I am thankful for the joy they bring each and every day.
I loved your thoughts. I talk to my plants and even water them occasionally. I sometimes hear them groan as I approach...you might have deduced I am not the indoor green finger plant owner. Outdoors, now that is a whole other story, green fingers there.
ReplyDeleteYou obviously think outside the flower pot. I wonder what else your mind gets up to. Off to apologize to my plants. Have a good one.
ReplyDeletePlants like it when we talk to them. They get some special attention that outside plants don't receive! Inside plants get to be in the know and part of the personal lives of the families living with them. I think the outside plants are jealous actually.
ReplyDeleteLovely poem Jinksy.
ReplyDeleteOur houseplants are not happy in winter, but as soon as the weather warms up they have a special place outside. In the Deep South the air is so humid that they do very well outside in the shade, as long as we remember to water them once in a while.
ReplyDeleteI is good, I think, to ponder the other side of existence. As human beings, we always tend to be so egocentric.
ReplyDeleteLovely thoughts for me to ponder today.
I bet they adapt and thrive and never think twice, or any time, about their homeland. Like pets. they will feel our attention and nurturing and reward us with big smiles/blooms.
ReplyDeleteInteresting thought and great poem!
ReplyDelete;^)
I bring my plants outside as soon as it warms up enough. Come autumn, they dream about coming back indoors.
ReplyDeleteNicely put Jinksy...
ReplyDeleteBloomin Great!!