RavensRoost

By RavensRoost

"Fiery Cauldrons"

Rose Hips and Thistles

It’s been a long Indian summer
and the hips are rotting on the beach rose.


I can almost taste their sour skins –
red balls of seeds glistening


like fiery cauldrons in the late September sun;
green tentacles dripping below.

I’m dreaming of exotic gentians,
alpines, delphiniums.


But it’s the last of the flowering thistles
that stand before me


with their decadent helmets and feathers.
I think of Ellen Willmott


secretly scattering thistle seeds
in her neighbours’ gardens,


spreading pieces of herself – a legacy, to grow
and grow again when her body


is lowered to feed the earth
in a last great act of love.

~ Marion McCready

I recognized the author's reference to "Miss Willmott", as the plant called Miss Willmott's Ghost (Eryngium giganteum). I also see that she was quite a horticulturist. 

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