I saw a playful pussy willow
Caught up in a breeze
Eavesdropping on the gossiping
Of elderberry trees

She bounced among the cat o’nines
On dandelion beds
Until a dogwood barked hello
But frightened her instead

Nanna’d told me not to
But I set off anyway
Alone, along a garden path
All on a summer’s day

***

The buzz was ‘round about
A queen bee leading a procession
Of royal honeys all in line
In order of succession

But as her workers did drone on
She yawned, as if to say
Her pollination coronation
Was a rather dull display

The wildflowers were inviting me
To tea -
Rose led the way
Alone, along a garden path
All on a summer’s day

***

I saw a fearless firefly
Enraptured by a damselfly
Held captive by a dragonfly
Who challenged him to duel

The firefly was hard to catch
He cornered every bend
But finally he met his match
Extinguished in the end

I’d passed the crooked signpost
But I kept on anyway
Alone, along a garden path
All on a summer’s day

***

I heard a willow weeping
So I followed with my ears
To find that she was only crying
Crocodile tears

They fell into a murky swamp
And hid amidst the reeds
And stretched their great snapdragon jaws
To think up evil deeds

Dark clouds gathered parishioners
Like black-wooled sheep I strayed
Alone, along a garden path
All on a summer’s day

***

In wild apothecaries
Where the spoilt witch hazel grows
I lost a shoe and fell into
A cold murder of crows

Although there were no witnesses
A young voice shouted wolf!
But great gaggles of geese cried fowl!
And edited the proof

Twilight crept behind me
And I feared I’d lost my way
Alone, along a garden path
All on a summer’s day

***

Odd shadows danced in ceremony
Hidden in the gloom
Of all the bedtime tales they tell you
When you haven’t swept your room

The owl’s hoot was but a requiem of evensong
And I feared I’d ventured somehow
Past my supper far too long

I didn’t see the poison ivy hiding by the gate
For deadly nightshade covered me
And then it was too late

***

Now I lie beneath hibiscus
Where the mantis come to pray
And nibble me like biscuits
Keeping troubled dreams at bay

Alas, their watch is suspect
For their lies are greater
Say the faded words upon my headstone
Lost
All on a summer’s day

Image via Wikipedia