Saturday, July 3, 2010

Leaves Compared With Flowers by Robert Frost & Moonflowers!

July arrived in Louisiana wearing Moonflowers in her hair!  The heart-shaped leaves are so large this year that they brought to my mind this Robert Frost poem that I love and have memorized.


LEAVES COMPARED WITH FLOWERS
By Robert Frost

A tree's leaves may be ever so good,
So may its bark, so may its wood;
But unless you put the right thing to its root
It never will show much flower or fruit.

But I may be one who does not care
Ever to have tree bloom or bear.
Leaves for smooth and bark for rough,
Leaves and bark may be tree enough.

Some giant trees have bloom so small
They might as well have none at all.
Late in life I have come on fern.
Now lichens are due to have their turn.

I bade men tell me which in brief,
Which is fairer, flower or leaf.
They did not have the wit to say,
Leaves by night and flowers by day.

Leaves and bark, leaves and bark,
To lean against and hear in the dark.
Petals I may have once pursued.
Leaves are all my darker mood.

Backside of opening Moonflower, wet with early evening rain.

She looks to be made of delicate silk unfolding, with a starfish inside.

Tiny, sweet-smelling stamens that drive the Sphinx Moth crazy.  We await their return eagerly.

A frilly Moonflower, freshly open, dripping with raindrops.

I have to say flowers win over leaves, to me.  But then I think of my 3 Weeping Willows and have to recant when I see them dancing with a wild wind or flowing on a gentle breeze.

Blessings!

~Marion

Do you prefer leaves or flowers?


"'Tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes!"
~William Wordsworth, "Lines Written in Early Spring," Lyrical Ballads, 1798

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"If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom." ~Terri Guillemets

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"Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity." ~John Ruskin

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14 comments:

TheChicGeek said...

Marion, you have blessed me with your post this morning. I love Robert Frost's poem. It is also one of my favorites. Beautiful flowers, beautiful thoughts, beautiful Marion. All is perfect here :)

Have a beautiful and Happy 4th, Marion!

PS: I love both flowers and leaves...each is beautiful in its own right. I see you are reading Dracula :) I loved that book. I also rented the audio version from Overdrive.com...and the virtual library. Loaded it on my ipod! The audio version is AMAZING! Really scary and incredible classical music...just so well done. You may want to listen to it. I highly recommend it :))
Hugs, Love and Blessings, Sweet One :)
xo

Marion said...

Kelly, Happy 4th to you, too. The audio Dracula sounds like it's awesome. My Kindle will read to me, but it's quite robotic sounding. I love audio book readers who seem to act out the stories so beautifully. Blessings! xo

Susan Anderson said...

One of my favorites.

=)

Marion said...

Sue, don't you just love his poetry? I don't think there's a poem he wrote that I don't enjoy reading. Blessings!!

Rosaria Williams said...

Petals and Leaves, one begets the other, one enhances the other. We need both,at times together.
(I didn't know this poem by Frost. Thanks for the inclusion here.)

ds said...

Thank you so much for sharing the Frost poem (which I did not know) and the moonflower photos! Such a luscious blossom.

Wine and Words said...

I prefer flowers. Their shape and color varies so much, as opposed to leaves with a smaller palette and smaller vocabulary of shapes. Your moonflowers Marion....something about those. Etherial.

Love you
annie

Anonymous said...

Beautiful post. Thanks for this.

All the best, Boonsong

Marion said...

I love your blog, Marion. It feels peaceful and thoughtful...and I love coming here to find a poem by my favourite poet. I'm in love with anything he writes!

And those moonflowers are just gorgeous...I have wanted to grow them since forever and have always failed to get them to flower. Perhaps the season where I live is too short.

Beautiful, beautiful photos...thank you! And have a very happy Fourth!!

Kelly said...

Your Moonflowers (and their leaves) are gorgeous this year, Marion! I remember that one summer I grew them..... the smell was heavenly!! Please insist (and remind me) to plant some next Spring!!


I don't think I can make a choice between flowers and leaves. There are so many beautiful examples of both. As for leaves....I do love Ginkos.

Anonymous said...

I've never seen a moon flower before. So beautiful! Thank you for sharing your lovely growing an feeding poem.

Loads of love!

Julie

Serena said...

Beautiful words and pictures. Just what I needed today. Have a blessed and beautiful day, Marion.:)

* said...

I love flowers, but leaves are also captivating. I took home quite a collection from Scotland, Wales & England last fall when I went there last. Gorgeous, all.

PS: Your moonflowers are works of art.

Bubba said...

I'm a sucker for both flowers and Frost. I think flowers get most of the glory in Spring and Summer, but leaves have the final word when Autumn reveals their hidden fire.