40 THE JOY OF GARDENS 



epoch in the garden diary which of course you will 

 keep, not only recording flowers, but birds, insects, tree 

 frogs, and humankind that visit it. After that eventful 

 morning the sweet-pea clippers must be ready, and bloom 

 not clipped for the vases cut to prevent seeding, as every 

 bit of life should go to making flowers. 



A day's work with spade ends in a luxurious enjoyment 

 of the hour of April sunset. Choose the west window, 

 where the full beauty of fleeting gold, the brightening of 

 the silver crescent of the moon, and the torch of Venus 

 may be yours. One of the magic books may lie at hand, 

 and you read : 



"Just when you were safest, there 's a sunset touch. 

 A fancy from a flower-bell, some one's death. 

 A chorus ending- from Euripides 

 And that 's enough for fifty hopes and fears 

 As old and new at once as nature's self 

 To rap and knock and enter in our soul. 

 Take hands and dance there, a fantastic ring 

 Round the ancient idol on his base again 

 The grand Perhaps !" 



What heresy is this in the face of the sky pageant, the 

 vespers of the birds, and the hopes of sweet peas planted 

 in the garden! Shut the door on the elves of doubt. 

 There is no "grand perhaps"; the grass is green once 

 more, the crocus holds up its chalice of gold, and nature, 

 unfaltering, is true to her ancient promises. 



