The Poppy
By Francis Thompson (1859-1907)
SUMMER set lip to earth’s bosom bare,
And left the flush’d print in a poppy there;
Like a yawn of fire from the grass it came,
And the fanning wind puff’d it to flapping flame.
With burnt mouth red like a lion’s it drank
The blood of the sun as he slaughter’d sank,
And dipp’d its cup in the purpurate shine
When the eastern conduits ran with wine.
Till it grew lethargied with fierce bliss,
And hot as a swinked gipsy is,
And drowsed in sleepy savageries,
With mouth wide a-pout for a sultry kiss.
Pretty erotic stuff for nineteenth century poetry. Oh, yeah, it’s about a flower. Right. To read the rest of the poem, go here.
I was inspired by the red poppies I found at Monticello. All around the grounds at Thomas Jefferson’s estate, I felt honored to be there. So much history and innovation. So many lives lived out upon this plantation; unfortunately, enslaved and free.
Just from a gardening standpoint, I now realize Jefferson inspired me as a teen when I first visited. Here is the vegetable garden.
Below is the view Jefferson saw every morning. Pretty good isn’t it?
The flower garden was in almost a horseshoe shape outside the back door of the house. Horminum sage is the predominant blue in the center There was also blue flax, mallow, poppies, peonies and delphiniums. It was very pretty. I bought some columbine seeds.
Digitalis spikes. In Oklahoma, we must grow this in the shade or early a.m. sun and water the dickens out of it.
That’s all I have for now. I am still working on the surprise. No peeking.
For more musing, please visit Carolyn Gail at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago.
Wonderful muse Dee. I have never been to Monticello. I would like to go there. These pictures are just wonderful.
I can’t imagine having a garden so grand. To wake every morning and see it, heaven on earth.
Lisa, he was a fortunate man.~~Dee
Great poem, like it’s written in code. That is a very striking poppy.
MMD, you hit the nail on the head. The Victorians wrote a lot of things in code.~~Dee
Lovely piccies. I am still hanging onto my Poppy seeds after your much valued advice on when to plant 🙂
Thanks, Sarah. I wish I’d planted my poppy seeds in the fall.~~Dee
So neat that you could visit such a famous and historic place. Were the seeds you bought collected from plants in the garden?
Amy, the seeds were collected from plants like those in his garden. You could also buy plants directly from Monticello too. You can buy them online here.~~Dee
Hi Dee, You really visited some wonderful places on your vacation. Isn’t the garden at Monticello glorious? We visited several years ago, and I bought seeds too, it seems like a way to have a piece of his garden on your plot. BTW, your comment on my post showed up more than a day and a half late from the time you left it. It never made it to my email, but was sitting unread on blogger. Blogger had a bad day on Monday. Just wanted you to know it did get lost, but was found. ;->
Frances
Frances, it was the trip of a lifetime. Glad you found me on your site. Everyone’s technology has trouble sometimes, doesn’t it?~~Dee
The red is stunning. I always struggle with capturing reds. What a view Jefferson had.
–Curmudgeon
Thanks, I think it photographed well because I was in the shade.~~Dee
Hey Dee,
Great post for Muse day. Thanks so much for contributing.
Thank you for starting Muse Day, Carolyn.~~Dee
Great pictures!! Can’t wait for the surprise!
The surprise was the tour of Elizabeth Lawrence’s garden. I hope you liked it.~~Dee