Garden Hospitality 



have, those which if cut will come again. But 

 I offer my hospitality with restrictions. Nip it 

 tenderly and as it were from the rear. Seek out 

 those blossoms that perversely turn their faces 

 to the wall. And on your life, touch not those 

 that have lain dormant a full year to store 

 vigor for their bloom. For such flowers, even 

 when they are given me from others' gardens, fail 

 in beauty when I know that the plant has been 

 sacrificed in strength. 



[153] 



