Eternal Landscapes
I remember everything in my grandparents’ yard, from towering hundred years’ oak to a field of lily-of-the-valley. Oriental poppy and fuschia-hued peonies reached for the sun along the property line rough brick fence. Rose of Sharon to the left side of many-windowed front room. Behind them, in the shade of pines, a stump that sprouted mushrooms among the ferns. In front on the right side a snowball bush. Across the lateral sidewalk a raised bed made of small round stones, used for annuals. Behind that grew tomatoes, foxglove, and gopher weed. Down the middle of the long front lawn a wide, proud sidewalk that ended at the ditch; on the other side of which a poor, dirt road that had traveled to the bottom of a hill.
The driveway was lined with maple, with the far side of the yard sloping down to the marsh. At the top of the slope, luscious lilac trees that grandpa cut to stumps every so many years. At the bottom of the slope standing water and cattails. Rhubarb for pie grew wild. Two tall maples acted as posts for laundry lines.
Out back grew stands of sassafras for tea, and the lilies sprawled to the back road, which lead up another dirt hill.
yesterdays long passed
a child now an old woman
recalls paradise
Top image are living stones, taken in the arid garden at fmg.
Frank is today’s host for dVerse’ Haibun Monday. Frank says:
This week, let’s imbue our haibun with mono no aware. Write on any topic that you like (although bonus points to any choosing one related to May) as long as your haibun embodies that wistful sadness marking the beauty of transience.
Tao Talk 
Oh this is absolutely wonderful! I am right there experiencing this magical place with you….and the haiku is the perfect icing on the cake for this haibun.
I must say, this reminds me so much of our acreage and old farmhouse in Iowa when we were first married. It was the first house we ever bought….and oh how we loved all the plantings, trees including 4 apple trees, day lilies, the smell of new mown grass on our huge yard as George (city boy from Chicago) drove a small John Deere tractor/riding mower round and round the yard. You have me smiling from memories. I so enjoyed reading this!
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Glad to bring back pleasant memories for you as well, Lillian.
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I am easily absorbed into the scene, so natural and beautifully described and mood of looking back in your haiku balances your haibun so well
Bravo.
Thanks for dropping by my blog
much♡love
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Gillena, thank you so much for the feedback. You’re welcome on dropping by your blog.
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I love the garden walk you took me on… and so much better because of its memories.
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Happy to take you along with me on the walk.
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Not an “old woman” – we are both young in our enthusism for these warm and tasty memories xxx
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Thanks, Someone.
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And I love the Lithops plants in the image!
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Thanks, Someone!
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I was going to ask, who’s the old woman?🤭 Not you! Thanks for the beautiful walk down memory lane.
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<3 To paraphrase/turn a U2 song, "Some days are younger than others" My pleasure to take you along on the walk. I enjoyed the walk you shared with your family also.
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Great details, and the haiku does great work tying it together. I appreciate the link to living stones. Really beautiful.
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Maria, thanks for the feedback. I wanted to touch one so bad but had to set example for granddaughter, who sees, hears, everything.
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Wonderful memories to have Lisa :-) It sounds delightful!
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It was. Kids back then were expected to be outside playing all of the time. Virtual devices have put an end to it for many kids.
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Well done, Lisa. We remember paradise, but it reality it had some difficult time.
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Thanks, Dwight. Yes, indeed, on the difficult times, but this poem is not about those.
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You are right…. the memories are priceless.
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Thanks for understanding.
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beautiful memories and poem, Li💓
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Cindy thanks so much <3
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You’re sooo welcome🌹
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The descriptions are dizzyingly beautiful, almost too much to take in.
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Thanks much. It truly was a wonderland to explore as a kid, and seeing how my grandparents were attuned to it and within it was a blessing.
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Beautiful nostalgia, complemented by a haiku portraying the loss of such beauty so evocatively! Great write, Lisa!
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Frank, glad you enjoyed the haibun. Thanks again for the prompt that gives a name to a concept.
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What vivid memory. A magical, forever sort of place.
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Katie, I pretty much grew up at my grandparents’ home and returned there to live a few times as a teen. Mom and stepdad had no tolerance for an obnoxious, mouthy teenager. Interestingly I was nothing like that with my grandparents.
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I can relate as I really bonded with my maternal grandparents. They loved music and had this spark about them. I miss them dearly.
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Katie, I’m sorry your grandparents have passed. I miss my grandma dearly and my grandpa too. He was a stoic but I never doubted that he loved me.
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A wonderful walk through your memories.
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Ken, thank you. I hold the memories close.
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Well done, Lisa. A magical place vividly brought to life here. I happen to remember all the parts of my grandparents’ residence as well. For an urban kid, their country couple of acres was an amazing place to grow up with.😊
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Bruce, I would like to give you a gentle challenge to write about your memories of your grandparents’ place and share them in a post. Reaching into my memory and walking around the place was a very satisfying experience for me.
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Lisa, I’ll have to take that “under advisement.” I like that phrase “gentle challenge.” I think about them daily, but to be honest I hadn’t taken a mental walk through their property until I read your post here.
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:)
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I felt like I was there…that is the biggest compliment I could give you.
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I’m glad. Between my grandparents’ place and my dad taking us out into nature on weekends, it was an accepted part of our worlds. Thank you so much for the compliment <3
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It sounds like a great place.
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It does sound like paradise. You’ve created a vivid picture of it. (K)
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Thank you, Kerfe, it was.
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Thank you for sharing visions of your youth Lisa. I appreciate your taking me there my fridnd… 🙂✌🏼🫶🏼
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Glad you were walking there with me, Rob. <3 :)
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Now that’s an amazing description! Beautifully done, Lisa. It sounds like paradise. 😌
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Thanks much, Nancy!
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Most welcome, Lisa!
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What a dream like haibun, I can see it all. Truly gorgeous walk through your childhood memory.
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Di, thanks for walking with me :)
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That’s one place that sticks in my memory, my grandparents’ house and tiny garden, so your haibun resonated with me, Lisa, and my grandmother would have loved a field of lily-of-the-valley! I really enjoyed the walk around your grandparents’ garden, and imagined the ‘oriental poppy and fuschia-hued peonies’ – we had them in my grandparents’ garden too. There were also flowers I’ve never seen, the Rose of Sharon and gopher weed, which I had to look up. And the perfect haiku to crown it all.
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Kim, so happy your memories resonate with mine <3
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Such beautiful childhood memories Li. I also remember my grandparents home in detail.
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Sadje, glad to bring your memories of grandparents home to the forefront after reading this.
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Yes indeed. Thanks 🙏🏼
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What a lovely garden. You have described your memories of it beautifully.
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Suzanne, thanks so much. It was nice to walk it again.
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This perfectly describes both my grandma’s and my mother’s yards. Oh, that Rose of Sharon! How could a shrub with such a name not be lovely? Beautiful haiku!
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Yvonne, so happy you connect with the memories of your grandparents homes. Agree with Rose of Sharon. Thank you <3
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I wish I had a garden like yours.
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Thanks, Glyn. It lives in my head.
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What wonderful, heart-warming memories of a nostalgic time and place…thanks for sharing your gorgeous haibun of “paradise”, Lisa!
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Lynn, so happy you enjoyed the poem.
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Beautiful post. 💝✨
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Thank you!
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Your haibun reads like paradise indeed, Lisa, and thank you for taking us with you there by the scenic route!. What a singular joy to carry it with you as if it were yesterday! Your grandparents have passed on their love for green things to you it seems. What a gift that I’m sure you’re passing on to your grandchild!
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Dora, thanks so much. I taught it to my kids, and my younger son and his wife absolutely passing it on to their daughter <3
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Beautiful and heartfelt recollections written with a deft touch!
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Annika, thank you.
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Though the plants are not in my experience (only read about) you have taken me on such a stimulating and happy journey, while the haiku speaks in resonance.
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Paul, I feel like that when I see some of your pics. The flora and terrain are so different where you’re at. Thanks and glad you enjoyed the walk.
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Sure did and – my pleasure Li
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What a beautiful-sounding place to visit, Lisa. It is the lucky ones who have grandparents with wonderful homes to welcome us. Now, I’m thinking of my grandmother’s home. Hmm… almost tempted to write something now!
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Dale, I hope you do. Would like to read it.
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You’ve inspired me to. Gonna work on it after work!
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