With the thought that flowers and vegetables aren't the only things growing larger in the garden at the moment, here's a fun alternative to All Things Bright and Beautiful. It's by Barbara Robinson.
Go on, sing it through and have a giggle.
If you fancy a copy for your wall, her agent Anne Hill tells me that you're likely to be able to find it attractively printed, complete with illustrations far more attractive than the photo here, in the shop of most of our cathedrals.
With thanks to Barbara and Anne for permitting me to reproduce it here.
The Gardener’s Hymn
All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful, the Lord God made them all.
But what we never mention, though gardeners know it’s true
Is when He made the goodies, He made the baddies too.
All things spray and swattable, disasters great and small
All things paraquatable, the Lord God made them all.
The greenfly on the roses, the maggots in the peas,
Manure that fills our noses, He also gave us these.
The fungus on the goose-gogs, the club root on the greens,
The slugs that eat the lettuce and chew the aubergines.
The drought that kills the fuchsias, the frost that nips the buds,
The rain that drowns the seedlings, the blight that hits the spuds.
The midges and the mosquitoes, the nettles and the weeds,
The pigeons in the green stuff, the sparrows on the seeds.
The fly that get the carrots, the wasp that eats the plums,
How black the gardener’s outlook, though green may be his thumb.
But still we gard'ners labour, midst vegetables and flowers,
And pray that what hits neighbours, will somehow bypass ours.
All things bright and beautiful...
...Landscape Juice Network
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