My Garden - Diane Scantlebury

Mine is a beautiful garden,
Where nature’s had free reign
To run its course,
Not groomed or manicured
But borderline scruffy,
Weeds and perennials rub shoulders
And have learned to coexist
In their own defined harmony,

Birds adore it,
Swoop and chirp happily,
Or peck at the barely tamed lawn
Still strewn with grass cuttings,
Trees split and stooping
From winter’s gales
Seem to have sprung back to life,
Where their branches
Have touched the earth,

Mine is a natural garden,
Full of butterflies and bees
Creeping, crawling and stinging things,
Maybe too overgrown
For prim suburban taste,
But it suits me.

Diane Scantlebury