The Garden

Carl Larsson  - “Apple Blossom.”

from The Garden

What wond’rous life in this I lead! 

Ripe apples drop about my head; 

The luscious clusters of the vine 

Upon my mouth do crush their wine; 

The nectarine and curious peach 

Into my hands themselves do reach; 

Stumbling on melons as I pass, 

Ensnar’d with flow’rs, I fall on grass. 

Meanwhile the mind, from pleasure less, 

Withdraws into its happiness; 

The mind, that ocean where each kind 

Does straight its own resemblance find, 

Yet it creates, transcending these, 

Far other worlds, and other seas; 

Annihilating all that’s made 

To a green thought in a green shade. 

Here at the fountain’s sliding foot, 

Or at some fruit tree’s mossy root, 

Casting the body’s vest aside, 

My soul into the boughs does glide; 

There like a bird it sits and sings, 

Then whets, and combs its silver wings; 

And, till prepar’d for longer flight, 

Waves in its plumes the various light. 

Andrew Marvell

We have a long history, this poem and I. I first read it when I was 12 or 13, and that line "Annhilating all that's made/To a green thought in a green shade." has come with me a long way. (A green thought. What is a green thought? I know what I think it is.) This is only part of a longer poem, but I love this particular part where Marvell does a gloat over summer's generosity - the abundance of fruit and flowers - so much that they almost fall into his mouth or put themselves into his hands. How he trips over them, and is ensnared by flowers - I love that one especially. It's entirely true, too. This time of year is so full of vegetable interest (!) that I can't get anywhere when I go for a walk. I see a flower over here, another over there, and I have to stop and take a picture. The salmonberries are out too, and you could hold your hand under a branch and have them fall into it, they are that ripe. So Marvell isn't even exaggerating much. And the part where he talks about shedding his body and gliding into a tree - it's completely ridiculous and wonderful. This is a man so overwhelmed by nature's extravagance that he goes bonkers. In a good way. I mean, please, ensnare me with flowers.

I wanted a painting of someone sitting under a tree in an orchard, but as with so many other poems, I couldn't get the perfect match. But I love Carl Larsson, and this painting has wonderful colours and subject matter, and it evokes similar feeling (for me) as the poem does.