Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LAVENDER, by KATHARINE TYNAN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LAVENDER, by             Poem Explanation         Poet's Biography
First Line: There's a clump of lavender
Last Line: Had such sweet strewings, said he.
Alternate Author Name(s): Hinkson, Katharine Tynan
Subject(s): Crime & Criminals; Gardens & Gardening; Jesus Christ; Lavender; Linen; Sin


THERE'S a clump of lavender
In the convent garden old,
Alive with the pilferer
Who wears a coat of gold.

He swings and he sways
As he sucks his sweet.
All through a honeyed haze
His wings cling and his feet.

By the grey-blue lavender
Fra Placid comes and goes—
Sets on the grass-plot there
His linen all in rows.

The Lord God's altar-cloth
Whereon is laid white bread
For starving souls and both
The white wine and the red.

The marble Mother and Child
Look down from a green space;
Holy and undefiled,
They give the garden grace.

There, when the dews began
And the suns ripened the peach,
Fra Placid, sacristan,
Laid his fair cloths to bleach.

In the fresh morning time,
May Christ all souls assoil!
The bell ringing for Prime
Summoned him to new toil.

For hours he dusted and swept,
Yea, he had little ease,
At the noontide he slept,
His head drooped to his knees.

About the vesper hour
He woke and slept again,
Forgetting the sudden shower,
The thieving, wandering men.

Until, wide-waked at last,
The linen came to mind;
He ran with anxious haste,
Fearing no cloths to find.

There by the lavender
He spied a wondrous sight;
The pedestal was bare,
Queen Mary walked in white.

She walked with a still air
Over the shining grass;
The spikes of lavender
Bent low as she did pass.

No more in her embrace
She clasped her sweetest Son.
He leapt on the grassy space
As a lamb might leap and run.

He skipped like a white lamb
Upon the daisied sod,
Played many a merry game,
The little Lamb of God.

He gathered with delight
The lavender, leaf and flower,
And on the linen white
He shook it in a shower.

Placid, the sacristan,
Fell on his face afraid.
Tears down his old cheeks ran—
Dear God, dear God! he said.

Dear God, dear God! he wept;
See how thy table-cloth
Was well guarded and kept
While I gave way to sloth.

The bell called him to prayer,
He went obediently:
'Twere well that all my care
Had such sweet strewings, said he.





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