VILLANELLE...........
John W. Sexton, IE

 

the gardener's heart

As green as green as the gardener's  heart
are the pampered lawns of the sterile park
where autumn's rot is yet to start

From the clogged canal sounds the barge's blart
in waters fetid with algae dark
and green as green as the gardener's heart

In the sally wood brays the wounded hart
the echoing trumpet and savage bark
where autumn's rot is yet to start

A witch picks nightshade for a nightshade tart
entered in ledgers by the witch's clerk
in ink as green as the gardener's heart

A playful child throws a barley dart
the starlings bicker in their swooping arc
and autumn's rot is yet to start

The ruined admiral dreams of his chart
as he sleeps in the hedge with a preening lark
and green as green is the gardener's heart
as autumn's rot is yet to start 

 

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