Friday, March 25, 2022

Poetry on Friday

I came across this poem recently and it reminded me of my mother-in-law. I do the same sort of paring down with bouquets, and I'm sure many of you do also, so I'm sharing this poem with you today. 

Bouquet 
by 
Tadeusz DÄ…browski

Paulina, the gardener's daughter, cares
about flowers doomed to die.

If I bring her a bouquet, she frees it
from the ribbons and gently places it in the hospice 

of a vase. When the flowers weaken, she trims their stems
and plucks off their wilting leaves. She takes

the dead ones to the compost, from the rest
she forms a new bouquet. Thus disappear in turn:

poppies, anemones, carnations, damnations, and
forget-me-nots, until finally all that's left are

gypsophila and Judas' pennies. Paulina,
the gardener's daughter, sees a bouquet in the vase

even when it's not there anymore.

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Translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
You can read more about the poet here.

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I wish you mindfulness, peace, flowers and bouquets along with some poetry as the week winds down. 

11 comments:

  1. That's lovely. And it makes me want to go buy a bouquet of flowers.

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  2. Such a pretty poem and I just did that the other day!

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  3. abundance of flowers remind me of my paternal grandmother, she loved them and her gardens were overflowing with flowers!! Lovely poem.

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  4. What a beautiful poem, Bonny. I do that too . . . the gradual "minimizing" of any bouquet. And it always seems to end up as a small (but still magical) "grouping" of carnations. Thanks for starting the weekend off with poetry! XO

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  5. What a gorgeous poem! Thank you so much for sharing it.

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  6. I'm not sure I'll look at a bouquet of flowers the same way again after reading this poem -- seeing a bouquet even when it's not there anymore is such a lovely thought!

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  7. A lovely poem, Bonny, and a great way to start the weekend. I hope you have a restful, fun weekend and see flowers everywhere.

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  8. Aw. That's lovely! Have a great weekend, Bonny!

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  9. That is a beautiful poem. Yes, I do the same thing with a bouquet and now each time I will think to imagine the bouquet that isn't there. I bought two bunches of daffodil buds today so I will get some practice soon.

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  10. what a lovely tribute to your mother-in-law ... and to the beauty of a "mixed bouquet"!

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