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Child’s Garden 

To never end, we thought, the morning light
that kissed our eyes, and breezes whispering
with cherub voices, pausing to invite
us to a secret world, and conjuring
the whims of pussy willow magic wands
and piney beds for tiny acrobats
and games of hide and seek in grassy fronds
above our heads, where growls of jungle cats
are tamed to laughter by a kindly oak
who lowers crooked fingers in support,
as dandelion parachutes evoke
a frantic chase, and milky clouds exhort
celestial palettes to intensify
the carnival of shapes upon the sky.

First published in The Lyric, Summer 2022

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Paul Buchheit is an author of books, poems, progressive essays, and scientific journal articles. He recently completed his first historical novel, 1871: Rivers on Fire.  His poetry has appeared in The Lyric, Illinois State Poetry Society, Poets & Patrons of Chicagoland, Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest, Society of Classical Poets, and other publications.

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22 Responses

  1. Paul Freeman

    A magical sonnet in the best classical style.

    I was reminded of ‘The Secret Garden’ – both the fabulous book and the film version with Maggie Smith.

    Thanks for the read Paul,

    Reply
  3. g.KayeNaegele

    Beautiful imagery, recalling the most beautiful of memories. Most enjoyable read. Well done.

    Reply
  5. Joseph S. Salemi

    I’ll be honest, and admit that when I saw the title “Child’s Garden” my heart sank, and I expected another sentimentalized, cutesy-poo effusion. But I was totally wrong — this is a highly sophisticated and elegant sonnet, with expertly crafted imagery and well-chosen diction, perfectly flowing meter, and not a bit of useless filler.

    Moreover, it is a single, elliptical sentence! Its governing subject and verb (“we thought…”) takes the title “Child’s Garden” as its understood object, and then reduces the expected logical grammatical complement of “would never end” to a simple “To never end.” And these three words are re-positioned to begin the poem, giving a perpetuity and fixity to all of the manifold details that make up the rest of the sonnet.

    It’s easy to do this sort of thing in an inflected language like Latin. It’s not at all easy in English. This is a really effective and memorable bit of work.

    Reply
  7. Margaret Coats

    A brilliant single sentence sonnet. I thank Joseph Salemi for saving me the trouble of explicating its virtues–but I will add particular admiration for the roles of the whispering, pausing and conjuring breezes. Nice touch of having them conjure up “the whims of pussy willow magic wands” and other features characteristic of a childlike imagination.

    Reply
  9. Mary Gardner

    It’s beautiful, Paul. I could feel myself relaxing and smiling as I read it.

    Reply
  11. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Paul, this poem is simply glorious! I love every beautifully crafted line… the picture the poem paints has sent me on a trip to paradise… I’m going to gaze at “grassy fronds / above our heads, where growls of jungle cats /are tamed to laughter by a kindly oak” for a little longer before I leave your page. Delightful!

    Reply

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