GARDEN BLOGGERS' MUSE DAY

" In them old cotton fields back home. "

When I was young and picked cotton in the fields I loved to hear the workers singing back and forth to each other as they toiled under the hot Alabama sun. They just sang as if they were talking to each other, very spontaneously, full of joy. " Hey, now, you know you done me wrong. I came around to see you and you weren't even home." " Say, now, when did you tell me you were comin' by ? If I'd a known you were comin' , I'd of baked an apple pie. "

Singing while you work, or as the old song goes " whistle while you work " seems to make the tasks at hand more pleasant. I find myself doing it sometimes. Just making up stuff as I go along. I guess that's how the blues and jazz got started.

I usually go out very early in the morning to tend to the garden before going to my day job of tending other people's. On one particular morning a mockingbird sitting in my pear tree inspired me to compose my own little ditty :

Song of a Gardener

The mockingbird sits
in the pear tree
singing a lovely melody
What would a garden be without me ?

The irises nod their graceful heads
as if to agree
our colorful display is a sight to see
What would a garden be without me ?

As soon as the sun comes 'round
a princess pretty in purple and pink
The magnolia is dressed in her lovely gown
What would a garden be without me ?

The roses put forth their sweet perfume
her majesty is in full bloom
What would a garden be without me ?

Ah, 'tis true, my dearly beloved,
the gardener said to all the above
Remember how with my own hands
I planted you in the fertile ground
and fed and watered you constantly.
Now I ask :
What would a garden be without you -
and me ?