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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