Pruning Flowering Gums

Lesbia Harford 1891 (Brighton) – 1927 (Australia)



One summer day, along the street,
Men pruned the gums
To make them neat.
The tender branches, white with flowers,
Lay in the sun
For hours and hours,
And every hour they grew more sweet,
More honey-like
Until the street
Smelt like a hive, withouten bees.
But still the gardeners
Lopped the trees.
Then came the children out of school,
Noisy and separate
As their rule Of being is. The spangled trees
Gave them one heart:
Such power to please
Had all the flowering branches strown
Around for them
To make their own.
Then such a murmuring arose
As made the ears
Confirm the nose
And give the lie to eyes. For hours
Child bees hummed
In the honey flowers.
They gathered sprigs and armfuls. Some
Ran with their fragrant
Burdens home,
And still returned; and after them
Would drag great boughs.
Some stripped a stem
Of rosy flowers and played with these.
Never such love
Had earthly trees
As these young creatures gave. By night,
The treasured sprays
Of their delight
Were garnered every one. The street
Looked, as the council liked it, neat.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

56 sec read
102

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABACDCAEAFCFGHFIFDJKLMLCACNOPJQJFRFSTSAA
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,045
Words 187
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 40

Lesbia Harford

Lesbia Harford was an Australian poet, novelist and political activist. more…

All Lesbia Harford poems | Lesbia Harford Books

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